Petrova's Angels
by Light-and-Smoke
Summary: Once upon a time, there were 3 very different little girls who grew up to become 3 very different women. Yet they have three things in common: they're brilliant, they're beautiful, and they work for me. My name is Tatia Petrova. And these are my Angels. - Join Elena, Caroline and Bonnie as they fight crime for Petrova's Angels Agency. Klaroline, Stelena, Bamon pairings. AH/AU
1. Chapter 1

Caroline regretted ever joining the Force.

She had all the right background and motivators to be there. She had played football until it became uncool for girls to do, at which point she had joined the cheer squad and eventually become captain. She learnt French and after high school she had learnt Japanese as well. She was the head of a number of committees in high school, proving her organizational skills. She was Miss Houston Texas, thank you very much, proving her hard work and determination as well as her poise under pressure. She had the motivational heartbreak of her parents divorce pushing her along, where she would do anything for the approval of her absent daddy and her tough mom. Her mother was the Chief of Police in their little town, for gods sakes.

So yes, Caroline Forbes had the potential and the push for joining the police. But never, ever in her life had she wanted to be subjected to the work she was required to do now. Caroline sat day in, day out, at a desk, filing and working as a secretary, because her misogynistic co-workers had delegated her to that task. Men. Honestly. And they couldn't just hire someone who _wanted_ to file and answer phones?

Caroline sighed wistfully as she read the latest case report that she was meant to be classifying and putting away. _She_ should be the one out there taking risks. _She_ should be the one saving those captured teenagers from their deranged history teacher. Not these lowlife macho men who were really washed up quarterbacks.

"Miss Forbes?"

Caroline straightened up quickly and turned to see Mr Brooks watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"Are we done filing today?"

Caroline breathed in slowly through her nose before exhaling. _'We' didn't do anything, __**I**__ did everything_. She thought to herself, but she smiled.

"All done." She chirped.

"Good. Davies is out sick, so we need someone to replace him on the night patrol."

Caroline's smile started to change from fake to real. This could be her chance, she could be leaving the desk!

"Can you check the roster to see who's available? I'm fairly certain Mackenzie could cover." Mr Brooks continued.

Caroline froze before nodding. "Of course, Mr Brooks. I'll check right away."

The moment the man turned away, Caroline let herself visibly deflate, an exasperated huff of a growl escaping her mouth. Who was she fooling? She'd never get a chance. She opened up the necessary files on her computer, and sure enough, Mackenzie was available.

But maybe that could change…

The idea sprung to her mind as if the devil had placed it in there. Caroline bit her lip. It might be wrong…but Mackenzie didn't focus on the job anyway, he was too focused on clocking off early so he could get to the bar…surely it wouldn't hurt to get out this one time…

Her fingers itched, then twitched, then began flying furiously across her keyboard.

When Mr Brooks returned, Caroline had printed out the roster of availabilities.

"Well, Mackenzie's on a case, Foster is out of town and that baby Cooper is nowhere near qualified yet." Mr Brooks hummed. "I suppose we could test out the kid tonight, seeing as the patrol is going to be with Barnes…"

Caroline almost nodded, but she stopped herself. "Actually, Mr Brooks, seeing as I've finished with the files today, I could always go. I know how the patrols go, and Cooper did just come fresh out of school a month ago."

Mr Brooks glanced up at her and she almost thought he would say no. But then he sighed and nodded. "Very well Miss Forbes."

Caroline tried not to trip over her own feet in her haste to get her things and go to the cop car. Barnes, a stern man, got in on the drivers side and they set off.

Night patrols were a very straightforward affair, especially in the district that Caroline worked in. The car would travel around while listening to the police scanner, and if there was a citizen that needed assistance, or any circumstance that appeared suspicious, they would check it out. Most nights the police might have to combat public drunkenness or lost visitors on their way to or from the bar. Some nights they didn't even need to leave the car at all.

This was not one of those nights.

Caroline didn't remember much in the accident. All she remembered was a weird ringing noise that clearly affected Barnes more than it did her, since it made him lose control of the car. She remembered the bright lights of the truck in the opposite lane as it crashed into them. She remembered her training skills kicking in as she got into a well adjusted brace position that minimized the damage.

She didn't remember being pulled from the wreckage. She didn't remember Barnes not showing life signs once they recovered his body. And she didn't remember a mysterious dark haired woman who had seen the crash happen from afar, just as she had noticed Caroline's hard work from afar for months now.

Caroline was taken to the hospital, and treated for a concussion as well as cuts to her body from the broken glass. The accident was labeled as simply a terrible accident and nothing more. But in recovery, Caroline started to remember more. Started to remember where the ringing had come from, and the truck being a heavy duty plated one, the type used to carry precious cargo from one place to the next. And if she concentrated very hard, she could recall figures as they tried to get into the side of the truck.

A nurse broke her concentration as she came to change the bag connected to her IV drip. Caroline was exhausted, but she wasn't blind, and she did notice that her nurse was _not_ wearing the right shoes, unless completely cute black stilettos were the new thing among hospital staff.

"What's going on?" She asked the brunette.

The woman actually had the nerve to smirk. "Oh, believe me, you'll see. Its game on right now."

The new drugs had started to seep into her system before Caroline had even begun to question the words, and her eyelids drooped. The last thing she was aware of was the click of those high heels as, unbeknownst to her, the nurse wheeled her bed out of the ward.

Caroline remembered her recruitment to Tatia's Agency and band of Angels easily. She seriously regretted her time wasted on the Force while filing, but she was unbelievably grateful for the job it had landed her.

…

Bonnie's story was quite different. She had always known about Tatia's business, seeing as her family were major supporters and had been connected with Tatia's family for what felt like centuries. After her mother had skipped out on the job offer, however, the position was given to her. At the time, Bonnie was recently graduated, but that made little difference. She was street smart, after being brought up by her father and her grandmother while her mother gallivanted off around the globe, and she was quick witted. She had been training to be a dancer, so her body performed to the best of its ability. Her grandmother also said she was descended from witches, which she thought was a bit of crazy voodoo, but she did admit that she could be psychic in her predictions and she had an uncanny ability to read people. Whatever the reasoning behind her abilities, she was thankful.

As for now, though, she wasn't too thankful for men. After coming out of a terrible relationship with Ben, and another with Luka, she had stupidly assumed that Elena could set her up with a guy that was sweet _and_ wouldn't hurt her. She hadn't realized that it was an impossible task.

Bonnie knocked on the apartment door, pasting a fake smile onto her face as Jeremy opened the door.

"Bonnie! Hi," He exclaimed. She gently pushed him aside and walked into the apartment. Jeremy followed her as she walked to the table and began to extract the key she had given him from the keychain.

"I'm happy to see you aren't dead." She said levelly, and he frowned in confusion.

"Dead? What do you mean?"

"I mean, I saw your car parked outside, I knew you weren't carjacked on the highway, and since I know your cousin Elena and she wasn't called in to the hospital, you weren't there either. But other than that, I can't see a good reason for you to miss our date last night again. No call, no contact, no nothing. I was left there alone, stood up. Third time this month."

Jeremy opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it.

"I can't take anymore, Jeremy." Bonnie sighed, finally freeing her key just as her phone began to ring. "Hello? Absolutely, I'll be right in. Bye."

"I can explain." Jeremy said, walking over and setting his hands on her shoulders.

"Jer?" A brunette girl stood in the doorway to Jeremy's bedroom. Bonnie looked at Anna with a raised eyebrow before shrugging Jeremy's hands off her shoulders.

"I can explain, Bonnie." Jeremy repeated with wide eyes, but Bonnie was already gone out the door. There was only so much she could take, but the presence of his ex-girlfriend was her limit. She needed to stop falling for the sweet guys, she reasoned. The only man who was trustworthy was the one who made no scruples about being what he was – a jackass.

…

Caroline woke up in a tangle of sheets, make up smeared across her face, hair in knots, and completely disoriented. She blinked blearily at the sliver of light hitting her face from the partially closed blinds, and screwed her eyes shut before fluttering them open again.

As if on cue, her phone started ringing somewhere across the room. Caroline kicked her legs free and swung herself upright to answer it before realizing that she was naked. Crap. So it was _that_ kind of night. Her phone continued to ring shrilly at her, and she snatched it up tightly in her fist to answer.

"Yeah? Hi. Hi. Okay, sure, I'm on my way."

Caroline hung up without a goodbye and started searching for her pants. During her mad scramble to get back into her clothes from the night before, she came across a familiar shirt with a 'Timberwolves' logo across the chest. Shit. She knew exactly where she was, and she needed to get out of there.

"Babe? You up?" A familiar voice called from the next room, and Caroline panicked, doing up her pants and pulling her shirt on while she stuffed her feet unceremoniously into her boots. She didn't have time to find her socks. She was just thankful that she had found her underwear.

A dark haired man appeared in the doorway with a self assured smile on his face. His chest was bare, and Caroline had to stop her eyes from being drawn to his impressive six-pack. No. That was what got her into this mess in the first place!

"I've got to go, Tyler."

"No you don't. C'mon, I'll get some eggs going for breakfast."

"No. This was a mistake." She said, more to herself than him.

"You're always running out on me." He sighed as she pushed past him towards the front door. "But I know that you'll be back. Its fate."

"Its my freaky hormones getting the better of me." Caroline muttered, not turning around. If she got another eyeful of his chest again, bad things would happen. And she had to go to work.

…

I did it – B

_**Good for you! – E**_

_**You did the right thing – C**_

I just feel a bit awkward…I mean, its Elena's cousin. – B

_**And he's being a dick. Don't worry about it, I barely speak to him as it is, needless to say I wont be talking to him now. – E**_

Elena closed their group message and peeked outside the door she currently leaned against. She bit her lip and shut the door again quickly. Yup. Her ex was still out there. And she was too much of a chicken to face him right now. She just couldn't. She had broken it off with Matt about a month ago and it was still weird anytime she ran into him. She was usually friendly after break ups, but he had been completely blanking her. She was sorry for stringing him along, but she couldn't help it with the work she did. Being an Angel was tricky when it came to real life. Keeping up a normal front was difficult, especially when you had to pretend to not know about an entire life that shouldn't exist. People didn't believe in spies and espionage just as much as they didn't believe in vampires and werewolves, but that didn't mean that it didn't exist. Okay, perhaps the supernatural was a far stretch, but spies? You bet.

Elena was pulled back from her musings as her phone began to ring. She assumed it was Caroline or Bonnie, but once she recognised the number on the screen, she knew it was another kind of importance.

"Hey, yup, of course, I'll be right there. See you."

She hung up and checked her appearance once more in the mirror.

"Confidence. Poise." She murmured to herself, flicking her dead straight hair over her shoulder. "He probably wont even notice, its okay." She smiled, spun around, and walked out of the toilets she had taken refuge in…

And walked smack bang into a broad chest.

"Oh, pardon me." A deep voice sounded, and Elena looked up into stunning hazel green eyes. She caught her breath and smiled. The man seemed to do so in kind until he glanced at the sign on the door.

"Is this the mens room?"

With wide eyes, Elena double checked the door behind her before grimacing.

"Yes…I was just…um…" She blinked, and the mesmerizing hold he had on her broke momentarily, giving her enough time to pull herself together and get her sass back. "It's a long story." What was that story again? Right, Matt. She glanced around the mystery guy with the nice eyes, checking to see if her ex was in sight. She seemed to be in the clear. Elena took a step to skirt around the guy, but his mistimed step around her sent them bumping back into each other. They both laughed lightly before he stepped back to let her past.

"Thank you." Elena beamed at him before walking past, glancing over her shoulder as she exited the coffee shop. His green eyes watched her go.

…

"Just once, I'd like to date a normal guy without a wife, or a drug addiction, or inflated ego, or bondage issues." Caroline exclaimed as she leaned back into the plush white leather couch.

"Or a guy who doesn't want to ditch you for his ex girlfriend." Bonnie rubbed her temples beside her.

"We brought morning reinforcements." Elena announced as she and Jenna walked through the front door to the office, carrying large Starbucks coffees.

"Whats today's drama?" Jenna asked, eyeing the two women collapsed against the back of the couch.

"Feelings." Caroline sighed.

"Feelings." Bonnie agreed.

"Not knowing feelings makes the wrong decisions." Elena nodded, passing around the coffee.

"That's not true." Jenna said with a smile as the three young women looked at her with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. "No, not knowing how you feel is a lie. You know how you feel. You're just too afraid to say it. And too afraid to expect the most from men, because men have let you down. Believe me, I know."

Jenna sat on the edge of the business desk. "But that doesn't mean you don't deserve the most from men. You should demand it. And if they can't give it, then you go find one who can."

"Thanks Jenna." Bonnie smiled.

"Nine am pep talks always brighten the day." Caroline grinned, and Jenna turned as the phone began to ring.

"Right on time." Elena commented as Jenna pressed the conference button to pick up the call.

"_Good morning, Angels."_

"Good morning, Tatia!" The girls chorused back to the smooth voice of their boss Tatia Petrova.

"_I hope you had a nice break, ladies. This case is a big one."_

The coffee table top slid back to reveal a touch pad screen. News footage of an elegant dark haired man began to play muted while Tatia talked.

"_This is our mark."_

"He's cute." Elena observed cheekily, earning a sharp elbow jab from Bonnie.

"That he is." Jenna agreed with a wink.

"_He is a business partner of our new clients. His name is Elijah Mikaelson, a lawyer, lord, and billionaire. He is also missing."_

"Any ransom?" Caroline asked.

"_No word from the kidnappers. He's simply vanished."_

"I'll say." A man's voice sounded, and the girls whirled around to see a dark haired man standing in the open doorway. Bonnie made a sound in the back of her throat that vaguely resembled a gulp – the man was quite attractive. His electric blue eyes surveyed the gorgeous women and latched onto Bonnie's hazel ones.

"Hello,"

"Angels, this is Damon Salvatore. He and his associates have hired us to find Elijah Mikaelson."

The associates in question walked into the room from behind Damon. Elena gasped quietly as the man from earlier that day strode in confidently. She looked away once he caught her eye, not wanting to let onto the fact that they had technically already met in a slightly embarrassing way.

Jenna smiled warmly at the men, a blush tingeing her cheeks as the last man sent her a wink.

"Stefan Salvatore and Alaric Saltzman."

Alaric smiled casually at them all. The Salvatore brothers both saw Elena and glanced at each other. Damon imperceptibly shook his head, and Stefan nodded.

"Pleasure to meet you." Caroline said, levelheaded as her teammates recovered from their slight swoons. Sure, the men were attractive, but they had a job to do.

"Pleasure is all ours, Blondie." Damon grinned, and she bristled, opening her mouth to retaliate, but Bonnie got there first.

"Her name is Caroline, Mr Salvatore." Bonnie said coolly.

"And I'm Elena." Elena added quickly to avoid awkwardness, smiling sideways at Stefan.

Damon and Bonnie were still locked in a staring match. Bonnie gestured to the couch opposite the Angels. "Please, take a seat." She smiled without warmth, and Damon blinked in surprise before doing as she requested.

"You're feisty, Judgy."

"Its my job. And you can call me Bonnie, thanks."

"Back onto the case…" Elena interjected while raising her eyebrows slyly at Bonnie. "When was the last time you saw or heard from your business partner?"

"Its more like pre-business partner…" Stefan began, before running a hand through his dark blonde hair and sitting on the couch beside his brother. "We were about to launch into our first business deal with him, but before we could announce it, he missed the last meeting."

"Have you attempted to contact him?" Caroline asked.

"We must have rung his phone about fifty times before we decided to check his residential address." Alaric said. "And that's where things got fishy."

"His apartment was trashed. Looked like something out of the Hangover." Damon deadpanned, a smirk forming on his lips as Bonnie subtly rolled her eyes. Her eyes widened slightly once she realized that he had caught her, and she cleared her throat.

"Is there any footage? Any surveillance cameras around his place?"

"Nothing. The footage from the foyer shows him arriving the afternoon before the meeting, but not leaving." Stefan told them.

"Reckon someone set up a fake tape loop?" Elena asked the girls.

"Of course. The oldest trick in the book, its so predictable." Caroline frowned. "Any background on Mr Mikaelson?"

"_Jenna?" _Tatia interjected, and Jenna handed the Angels their folders. _"Elijah Mikaelson comes from a well established family in England. Their ancestry has a strong line back to the time of the Vikings. He was in line to receive a lordship."_

"Was?" Bonnie questioned.

"His family…disowned him." Alaric said delicately.

"Well that might be something to investigate." Elena nodded.

Alaric shrugged. "Maybe. I'd say the black sheep to watch out for would be his half-brother."

"Klaus Mikaelson?" Caroline read out from the file. "Why is he the black sheep?"

"Cause his mommy was able to turn the tables and say that it wasn't her fault she had an affair and a bastard." Damon scoffed, before glancing at the ladies. "Excuse my French."

"He certainly has jealousy as a motive." Elena mused.

"So when should we scope him out as a target?" Caroline asked.

"There is a 60s dance fundraiser in the city Friday night. Every major company will be there to promote themselves and donate to the Red Cross." Stefan explained. "We'll be there, and so will he."

"And why will you both be there?" Elena asked coyly. "We know why you want to hire us, but not what you do."

"Well, my associates and I originated as a miller company, but we've…branched out since, if you'll pardon the pun." Stefan smiled lopsidedly just like he had earlier that day, and Elena's breath caught in her throat.

"And Nik Mikaelson owns a number of night clubs and restaurants." Alaric added.

"That'll come in handy." Caroline grinned at the other Angels.

"One step at a time, Caroline." Jenna said, before nodding to Alaric and the Salvatores. "Thank you for your time, gentlemen. We'll be in touch."

"I sincerely hope so." Damon smirked, standing and sending a wink in Bonnie's direction.

"Good morning, ladies." Stefan smiled politely, subtly pushing his brother out the door. Alaric followed after a nod to the women.

The moment the doors closed, the girls shared a look.

"Yummy," Elena exclaimed, and Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Client." She reminded them, scoffing at the disappointment evident in the three other women's eyes.

"She's right." Jenna agreed with a small sigh.

"_Goodness, Angels." _Tatia's voice piped up. _"These men must have been quite charming." _

"You have no idea, Tatia." Bonnie muttered.

"Shame you couldn't be here to see them." Caroline said. "Are you sure you don't want to come by and help us on the case?" She asked hopefully. They had never seen their mysterious boss, and didn't waste any opportunity they had to attempt to meet her on a case.

"_You know I would love to, Angels, but perhaps another time." _Tatia said. Somewhere on the other side of the world, a dark figure in the snow clung to the side of a towering mountain, finishing up a call on their hands-free mobile. _"My hands are a little full today."_

"Okay." Elena said with a slight tinge of disappointment coloring her voice. "Next time then."

Caroline bounded to her feet excitedly. "For now, lets plan our attack. I'm thinking business stake out?"

"Check around Mr Mikaelson's workplace, and see how his business associates interact?" Bonnie mused.

"Sounds perfect." Elena smiled.

* * *

Hi!

This was just a crazy idea that I had to write down...and I've continued to casually pour my heart and soul into it over the past month or so. My lovely beta, magically-muddled (who I thank for putting up with my crazy!) can confirm that I've been potentially spending way too much time with this idea.

ANYWAY.

Hope you enjoyed! Read and review if inclined, I'd love to know if anyone would like me to continue it?

xx


	2. Chapter 2

Stefan walked down to the main desk where Elena was waiting patiently.

"Morning, Mr Salvatore." She smiled.

"Good morning, Miss Gilbert." He nodded.

"Thank you for taking the time to show me around the establishment." Elena said as they walked towards the elevators. "Will your business partners be joining us today?"

"Unfortunately, no. Mr Saltzman is in London signing off on a contract deal." Stefan explained, pressing the up button. "My brother is no doubt somewhere around today. We might run into him."

"I'm sure." She agreed, though she highly doubted it. And a part of her hoped that they wouldn't. She wished it was merely for the fact that it would be easier to judge his character for work if he was alone, but she knew it was also so she could get to know him for her own personal wants.

The lift arrived and they stepped in.

"So, where would you like to start the tour?" Stefan asked Elena.

"Anywhere at all." Elena replied. "How about we start at the top and work out way down?" Her eyes widened at the slightly dirty connotations of her sentence, and she turned her focus from Stefan's amused expression to the closing lift doors.

"Sure thing." Stefan said, the barest hint of a chuckle in his voice. "We'll start with my colleagues offices." He pressed the button for the twenty-third floor.

…

Bonnie straightened her skirt self consciously. Pencil skirts were not her first choice of garment. Or second or seventh or twentieth.

"Everything all right?" The senior assistant, Mrs Stevens asked her.

Bonnie nodded, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Very well then. Follow me, Miss Graham, and we'll get you started on those copies. You've got a big trial day ahead of you."

Bonnie was spending her day undercover as an intern at Daywalker International – the company run by the Salvatores and Alaric Saltzman – to see if she could find anything of interest, even if it was merely idle office gossip.

…

Caroline hitched up her overalls and tightened her ponytail. She hadn't been afraid of heights for years, it was a requirement if you wanted to be cheer captain and tossed around in the air like a kite. But there was a bit of a difference between that and hoisting oneself up twenty stories to wash windows.

And she had drawn the short straw for today.

_**Personal offices on the top 23**__**rd**__** floor. Got Stefan distracted, Alaric overseas on business. Keep an eye out for Damon. – E**_

**I'll start with Stefan's office once you're gone and move onto Alaric's later. As for Damon – noted. I'll see if Bonnie can assist. – C**

**B, need you to weave that dark magic. Where is Damon? – C**

_I'll keep an eye out. If its helpful, today is intern day. The boss might be doing some personal mingling. – B_

Caroline rolled her eyes. At least it kept him away from the office. Caroline triple checked the ropes on the rig before pressing the necessary buttons to lift her to the top of the building. The whipping wind stung her eyes and she made sure her knees didn't lock up in reaction to the sudden vertigo. This was going to be a long day.

…

"Wow," Elena commented, walking into the large office. "I'm guessing you were able to pick the one with the best view?"

The floor to ceiling windows took up the entire opposite wall, looking out onto an unblocked view of Manhattan. Elena dared to walk closer to the window, peeking down at the street below.

"Lucky accident, actually." Stefan answered. He watched her get closer and closer to the window before he gently grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. She looked at him questioningly, and he laughed at himself under his breath.

"Sorry. I'm just a little cautious."

Elena smiled. "Then maybe we'll have to get you to walk on the wild side."

His eyes caught hers, and she forgot whether or not she had planned to say anything witty after that remark. Then Stefan's eyes travelled down to where his fingers curled around Elena's wrist still. He let her go, and the moment vanished.

Elena walked past him to study the relatively empty desk and sleek leather seats. _Client, client, clinet._ A voice that sounded remarkably like Caroline chanted in her mind, and she tried her best to listen even though she wanted to ignore it. She looked at the paintings on the walls to distract herself, and noticed a large bookshelf. She went to peruse the titles he had stored there.

"Wuthering heights?" Elena asked, turning around and catching Stefan's smile.

"Judge me how you will. It's a good book. And its one of the original copies."

"By Ellis Belle." Elena read out from the leather-bound spine, carefully taking it off the shelf. "You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name."

"All the Bronte sisters used pseudo names." Stefan explained, drawing closer. "It was the time. Female writers weren't very accepted then."

"Where did you get it?"

"It was passed down through the family." He noticed the loving look in Elena's deep brown eyes, and the way she gently ran her hand across the cover. "I have lots of books," He noted before smiling. "Go ahead. Keep it."

Elena looked up with wide eyes, astonished and unbelieving. "Oh, no…" She bit her lip. "Though I would like to read it again. I promise I'll give it back." She compromised.

"Okay." Stefan agreed with a heart stopping smile. Elena beamed back warmly at him, and felt like they were falling back into another moment…

And then out of the corner of her eye Elena noticed the top of Caroline's head as she rose in the window washing hoist. Right. She had a job to do.

"Um, so would you be able to show me around the rest of the building?" Elena asked, and Stefan nodded.

"Of course." He opened the door for her and she kept her eyes on his to make sure he didn't glance back and see Caroline.

…

Caroline watched Elena charm Stefan out of the room and rolled her eyes. That boy would be in big trouble if he fell for her, but Elena would be in even bigger trouble if she fell for him. And that definitely looked like a possibility. Caroline shook her head, easily popping one of the windows from its frame and laying it carefully on the carpet before entering the office. She was probably just jealous that her friends could like guys that were actually nice…or vaguely nice in the case of Damon. Bonnie was tough enough to take him on anyway.

Caroline poked her tongue out at the security camera on the wall, knowing that Jenna was back at the office watching the live feed while their own system hacked into the cameras and played a five second loop of the empty office. Honestly, amateurs. She wasn't surprised that Bonnie's family had been involved in some shady business before Tatia came along. Sometimes the wrong side was just too tempting when 'bad guys' did the job so poorly.

She ran her hands across the top of the spotless desk before delving into its almost equally empty drawers. Of course, why would Stefan keep anything in plain sight, even for himself? Caroline glanced around the room before checking behind the paintings. Nope, clearly too cliché for the businessman. She recalled the moment she had seen between Stefan and Elena before by the bookshelf. Was the businessman a writing romantic? Could that be the key?

Caroline surveyed the titles on the shelf before grinning and grabbing a copy of _How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying__._ So the man clearly had a sense of humor. Sure enough, the book did not contain any musical theatre references, but documents and records from the milling company. She flipped through till she found some contracts signed by Elijah Mikaelson.

Interesting.

Caroline took snapshots of documents concerning their missing businessman using her iPhone, and placed the book back where she had found it. She skimmed through the other shelves. If he was hiding something, there could be more.

And there was. Caroline came across a very interesting book titled _Scènes de la vie de bohème_ with something hidden in between the pages. She dared not touch it, putting the book back immediately with a frown. Poor Elena. There was more to this man than they had thought.

…

Bonnie had dabbled in psych for a while, and always found social interactions intriguing, especially in regards to environment. And clearly the office environment for Daywalker International had created a hotbed of gossip. Just from circulating around the building on her intern jobs for the day, Bonnie was able to casually discover plenty of idle tales about their mysterious clients.

"That Stefan Salvatore? So brooding and sexy. But there must be something more there. He keeps to himself too much."

"I overheard an argument between him and that Mr Mikaelson that came in – nasty stuff. Never heard the man talk so loud."

"I'd expect that more from his brother Damon Salvatore…he's certainly got the passion for it. Its just bubbling away underneath the surface at all times, you can see it in his eyes."

"You've been gazing into his eyes too long, honey. You'll just get hypnotized like every other girl between floors two to twenty one."

"And everyone hopes that he'll settle down…"

"But he's a playboy. He'll never settle down."

"You may be right. But I heard that there was one woman who changed his mind. Or broke his non-existent, cold, dead heart."

"Well clearly he broke yours."

"And at least I didn't make a fuss about it. The last girl that did ended up moving to the London base of the company."

"I thought that was because she knew Alaric Saltzman, not Damon Salvatore."

"Regardless, it was still a bit of a scandal. But at least she still has her job."

"It's a small wonder that she was able to get a job there. The London base is filling up fast. And no wonder, with all those trips Mr Saltzman makes there for business."

"Perhaps he has a mistress over there and is just using company funds to get there and back?"

"He's not even married anymore, he can't have a mistress. And you just want there to be more drama."

"It might be the wrong type of drama. I heard that it was more that Mr Saltzman wanted to break away from the company. Seems like he's been making some deals of his own without his business partners."

…

Caroline replaced the window in Stefan's office before making her way down the hall to Damon's. She picked the lock as easily as writing her name, and shut the door softly behind her.

"Well…just a little flashy, are we?" She scoffed, taking in the expensive gothic décor. Clearly the older brother had a thing for vintage furnishings. She tugged her cotton gloves back on – somehow she knew that he would be able to tell if she left one fingerprint around the place. If the younger Salvatore had his demons, then she suspected that the older Salvatore had a few OCD tendencies. Well, that, along with the partying and the women. But that was already obvious to the general public.

Caroline glanced around the room, mentally checking off the signs: furniture perfectly parallel, spotless rugs, even the pens lined up next to each other meticulously.

She took a glance around in the polished mahogany desk, finding few papers. She recalled that Damon had kept a close eye on his phone, and concluded that whatever documents he kept himself, they were in his iPhone.

Caroline also found the usual things – aftershave, mouthwash and a small bottle of scotch – that made her roll her eyes. Really? These things were necessary to keep in an office? But then she came across a tube of hand cream at the back of one of the drawers that made her think it hadn't been seen by Damon in a while, possibly forgotten. Particularly since it was a womans brand of lotion. She frowned, uncapping it and sniffing. Jasmine and sandalwood…she was certain that she had smelt that somewhere else before…Caroline tucked that away for the moment, knowing it would come back to her eventually.

…

"Is that a trophy case?" Elena asked as they walked down a corridor on the twenty second floor.

"It's nothing, really." Stefan shrugged it off, attempting to redirect her focus elsewhere, but she had already walked over to see the awards.

"_Daywalkers Football Team._" She read out, before seeing his name. "I wouldn't have guessed that you played football."

"I used to." He said. "It was a long time ago."

"So how come you don't play now?" She asked.

"I just don't."

"So you don't like football?"

Stefan made a face. "No, I love football. I think it's a great sport. But…well, football started to not like me." He glanced at her questioning look and a furrow appeared in his brow. "Its complicated."

Elena realized that it was a difficult subject for him, and backed off a little. "I'm sure you'd be able to do it again now. Or are you just too comfortable being the mysterious businessman who keeps to himself?" She teased.

Luckily it brought a smile back to his face. "Says the girl who spends her time masquerading as different people."

"Hey, come on." Elena reasoned. "There's more to me than just a detective girl. You make me sound like I'm running around in a trenchcoat with a fake Mario mustache stuck on my face."

Stefan properly laughed then, making her feel a funny sense of accomplishment and happiness at seeing an expression of joy from the otherwise stoic man.

"And besides, there's a whole other Elena that you have yet to meet. One with an actual normal life." She added.

He smiled at her. "Well, I look forward to meeting her."

Elena let herself be drawn in by his stunning green eyes for a moment before he cleared his throat and gestured down the hall.

"Shall we?"

…

"Mr Mikaelson clearly needs to come into the office more often."  
"Agreed. He was barely here and then he left. But he was so handsome."

"Too much of a distraction."

"Too little of a distraction. Yeah, he was good to look at, but he didn't talk much."

"There's always something fishy about a man who keeps to himself."

"And there is always something dangerous about women who talk." A deeper male voice interrupted the gossip Bonnie had prompted, and the office ladies all looked up with a gasp.

"Mr Salvatore!"

Damon grinned at them. "Morning, ladies. Hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all," Molly, one of the regular workers, flashed a lovely smile.

"You know we always appreciate your interruptions, Mr Salvatore." A girl called Shelley piped up, and Damon sent her a wink that put her in giggles.

"I just wanted to see how our interns were doing." He said, walking towards the ladies who were all crowded in the same office cubicle. They split up and went back to their respective desks. Bonnie made sure to walk fast, keeping her head down and hoping that somehow no one would recall that she was an intern…

"We have Tallulah and Kat working today, Mr Salvatore." Molly said helpfully.

Bonnie cursed Molly in her head, wishing that she had the power to give her one hell of a migraine.

"Thank you, Molly." Damon replied smoothly, before walking over to Kat – Bonnie – 's desk.

"Damon Salvatore." He introduced himself when he reached her cubicle.

Bonnie kept her head down, staring intently at her hands folded in her lap. "Kat Graham." She said quietly.

"And how are you enjoying Daywalker International, Kat?" Damon asked sociably.

"Its perfectly fine." Bonnie replied, hoping that he would move on quickly without recognizing her.

"Perfectly fine?" He repeated.

Clearly she hadn't said the right thing.

"You can be honest, Miss Graham." Damon said with a slight chuckle. "After all, I have a hand in running the place. If there's anything that can be improved, I want to hear about it first."

She couldn't help herself. "The printers blah blabh." His lack of response prompted her to continue since she didn't dare raise her face to see his reaction. "Whats more, the work ethic is slightly low…most of the people here seem to know that they work for you, your brother, and Mr Saltzman, but since they know so little _about_ you, it prompts gossip."

"All anyone needs to do is check the latest trash magazine for a read up on me." Damon scoffed. "I'm usually in some sort of eligible bachelor article, though I do know of one column dedicated to the tally of girls I take home each week. I think we're up to four this week, and its only Wednesday."

Bonnie clenched her jaw and looked up at him, green eyes blazing like a supernatural fire. "I wouldn't be so proud of that."

Damon met her glare with a smirk. "Doesn't matter if you are or you aren't – you don't have any say about my life."

"And thank god for that." She returned.

They stared each other down for a moment, and just as Bonnie thought that perhaps he still hadn't recognised her, something seemed to click in his brain.

"Don't I know you?"

Her stomach dropped, but she kept her composure. "I'm sure after the number of women you've been with, they all start to look the same." She snapped.

Damon was used to receiving such judging remarks, but something about this girl got under his skin. He opened his mouth to retort, to say something, anything, but she beat him to the punch.

"No need to fire me, _sir_." Bonnie said icily, standing up and grabbing her coat and purse. "I quit." She stormed past him and out the door, ignoring the stares of other workers.

She had gotten enough information anyway.

…

_I'm done. – B_

**Fast work, B! – C**

_Might have something to do with me firing myself – B_

**Still, I'm proud. I'll be done in a bit, just got one more to search – C**

_Where's E at? – B_

**Flirting ;) – C**

_Figures :P – C_

…

Caroline shut her phone, carefully letting herself into the last office – Alaric Saltzman's. It was quite stark and bare in comparison to his business partners, which set off alarms in her head. Clearly he wasn't as attached to the company as the Salvatore brothers.

Caroline searched through the bare desk and looked around everywhere available but found nothing.

That is, until she walked over a patch of flooring that echoed slightly under her feet, indicating something hollow, and she realized that she had been looking around when she should have been looking _under_.

Caroline carefully lifted the hidden panel, and frowned when she found…nothing.

But clearly something had been stored there, and taken out recently. There were hooks and bolts to keep whatever it had been in place. She took a photo, knowing that she could study it later at the agency.

…

"I didn't know you had a history major." Elena exclaimed.

"Its true." Stefan verified. "I had a knack for remembering events. Dates and years and so on."

"You're making me want to test you." She said, waiting for his nod in acceptance to start her questions. "I'll keep it to the year then. Pearl Harbor?"

"December 7, 1941." He answered seemingly instantly.

"Fall of the Berlin wall."

"1989"

"Civil Rights Act."

"1964"

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963"

"Martin Luther King."

" '68"

"Lincoln."

"1865"

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973"

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954"

"The battle of Gettysburg."

"1863"

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

Elena paused. "I thought that ended in '52."

"Nope, '53." Stefan nodded. "I had a great uncle in that war."

"Impressive." She complimented. "My family never moved out of their little town."

"Wherabouts?" He asked.

"Mystic Falls. Its in Virginia."

"No, I know." He said. "My family had a boarding house there."

Elena paused. "You're _the_ Salvatore family? One of the Founding Families?"

"So I'm told." Stefan said lightly. "Once my family moved from there after those fires, we didn't speak much about that town."

"Still." She said as they continued to walk. "Its interesting to see how everything connects." _How we connect_, she added silently in her head, but Stefan looked at her almost like he knew what she was thinking…because he was thinking the same thing too

…

**Elena, ask him out! – C**

_**Have you been spying on me again? – E**_

_Come on, Elena. Its obvious. – B_

_**I'll see you two trouble makers back at the agency – E**_

…

The girls gathered around with Chinese take-out boxes, ready for a debrief. Jenna had gone home for the evening, and Tatia would be calling at 9am the next morning as usual to keep up to date with the case, but the Angels figured it would be best to know everything straight away.

"Find out anything interesting about the younger Mr Salvatore?" Caroline fished innocently, hiding her mischievous grin with a chopstick-full of chow mein.

Elena brandished a won ton at her threateningly. "One: I know where you are heading with that, and Stefan and I are strictly professional. Two: I didn't find out anything interesting, but its clear he's hiding something."

"That might have something to do with what I found in his office." Caroline said, the smile dropping off her face.

"What did you find?" Elena asked quietly. The look on her face prompted Caroline to not tell her friend about what she had found stashed in the second book. She was sure it was nothing, anyway. And Elena looked so happy, Caroline didn't want to change that.

"Look." Caroline said to Bonnie and Elena, opening the photos she had taken on her iPhone. Bonnie, the resident tech wizard, instantly used some sort of app to transfer them onto an iPad so the images were clearer.

"Contracts between Mr Mikaelson and the company." Bonnie frowned.

"But they said they were about to do their first deal with him." Elena added.

"That's what I thought. But then I realized that the contract was a bit different…" Caroline pointed to Damon and Stefan's signatures down the bottom. "Alaric Saltzman didn't sign. And there's no mention of Daywalker International."

"So it wasn't through the company." Elena pondered. "What's the contract about?"

"Its unclear." Caroline said slowly, watching her teammembers to wait for their reaction.

Bonnie got there first. "It's a front. Whatever deal they must have been doing might not have been legal, so they used this as a front to state that there was a contract between them, but notwhat it entailed."

"In case it fell into the wrong hands." Elena added. "Interesting."

"That's not all." Bonnie interjected. "There's quite a bit of office gossip. Obviously not all true, but its got to stem from somewhere, right?"

"What have you heard?" Elena asked.

Bonnie put her chopsticks down to list the statements on her fingers. "What it boiled down to was that Stefan kept to himself, but he had a fight with Mr Mikaelson…Damon is a player that had a mix up with a woman…and Alaric is away on international business a fair bit and might be leaving the company. And there may or may not have been a woman between the two of them as well."

"Sounds like the plot for a teen soap opera." Caroline joked.

"Isn't everything nowadays?" Elena smiled.

"I can confirm the woman thing though." Caroline said. "I found a tube of womans hand cream in his desk drawers."

"I knew that man had soft baby hands." Bonnie smirked, and the other two laughed.

"It looked like it hadn't been used in a while, or like he had forgotten about it…but it still might be something. How many relationships do you know of where a woman keeps hand cream at her partners workplace office?" Caroline stated.

"Find anything else from office sleuthing?" Elena asked before turning away to grab her takeout box of noodles.

"Here." Caroline brought up the photo. "I cant for the life of me figure out what was there. Weapons? Drugs? Or just alcohol? Or maybe just documents." She sighed, resting her head against the table.

Elena glanced at the picture and frowned.

"Who has a crossbow?"

Caroline's head shot up out of her hands. "What?"

"How can you tell that?" Bonnie asked.

Elena shrugged. "My cousin Jeremy went through a phase when he was a teenager…he was convinced he was going to be a hunter, so he persuaded his dad to buy him a crossbow." She paused as Bonnie squirmed uncomfortably – clearly she wasn't quite ready to talk about Jeremy.

Elena bit her lip, and awkwardly continued on a different path. "You can tell that this is its storage box though. See, there's the hooks for it to rest on, and the safety to make sure it doesn't go off." She pointed towards a scratch. "That's where it scrapes every time he gets it out of the box, and there are a few scratches like it, so he clearly uses it often."

Caroline used the stylus to circle the scratch, a grin lighting up her face. "Elena Gilbert, you genius!"

Elena smiled in thanks. "Who does it belong to?"

"Alaric Saltzman, I believe." Caroline said, studying the photograph more intently now.

Elena faltered. "We can't tell Jenna."

Bonnie frowned. "Why?"

"She'll be heartbroken." Elena explained. "She has a business dinner with Alaric in a few days time, and she kinda likes him." She shook her head, her straight brown locks swaying. "We can't tell her unless its obvious that he's dangerous."

"But he might be a killer, Elena!" Caroline protested.

"We don't know that." Elena defended the man. "We cant just jump to conclusions."

Bonnie sighed. "She's right, Care. Even if it is a crossbow, its legal to keep modified ones. And its hunting season at the moment, which could explain why its not in the box."

"But why is it in a hidden panel in his office?" Caroline queried.

"Daywalker International openly supports and donates to PETA." Elena said, with a small smile. "It was Stefan's idea."

"Alaric might not want everyone to know he's out shooting bunnies when the company he co-founded is actively against hunting." Bonnie pointed out.

Caroline sighed. "You have a point."

"Anyway, our best lead is the half-brother." Elena said. "And he'll be attending the Dance."

Bonnie's phone started ringing, and she frowned at the unknown number that flashed up on screen.

"Hello?"

"Bonnie Bennett?"

She could feel her insides jolt just at the way he said her name, and knew that Damon was calling her. Damon Salvatore was calling her. Why was Damon Salvatore calling her?

"Everything alright, Mr Salvatore?" She asked, and Caroline and Elena straightened up in their seats and glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, knowing it must be the older brother rather than the younger.

"I think you know why I'm calling." Came the cryptic reply, and Bonnie frowned at her friends who were winking at her and pouting their lips in mock-kisses. She put down her kung pow chicken on the table and waved her hand irritably at them before ducking out of the room to take the call in the hall.

"What do you want from me?" Bonnie asked, trying to keep her tone calm and sass-free.

"I don't know, _Kat_. What do I want from you?" Damon said slowly.

She knew the gig was up. "It took you a while to figure out that was me today."

"I didn't expect that Tatia's Agency would need to infiltrate my workforce." He said with a mocking edge to his voice. "Clearly I underestimated the service we would be getting."

"Well then that's a mistake you wont repeat again." She snapped back. She might have a good salary, but they didn't pay her enough to put up with smug businessmen like him. And her own way of dealing with that was to snark right back at them.

She swore that she heard Damon chuckle on the other end of the line. "I think we need a fresh start, Bonnie."

"That's Miss Bennett to you, Mr Salvatore. I told you before." She said coldly.

"But I'm ignoring it. If I wanted to call you that, I would have." He sounded like he was smirking. "I asked to start over, does that not count for anything?"

Bonnie sighed. "Perhaps."

"Good." Damon paused for a moment, clearly at a loss for what to say next. She let him suffer through it. "Though you know, you could have just come to me for information, judgy, rather than go around gossiping."

She scowled. "I'll remember that next time, thank you."

Another pause. She was starting to like derailing his usual suave ways.

"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow for the meeting."

"Yes."

"Goodnight, Bonnie Bennett." Damon's voice was almost fond. It unnerved her for a change, prompting her to reply in kind.

"Goodnight," She said softly, unable to bring herself to call him by his first or last name.

* * *

Heyo!

Hope you've enjoyed this chapter :) I do apologise for the wait, but seeing as I have my most hectic schedule yet this year, I'll be giving myself an update time of every fortnight.

As for you Klaroliners, I know, _where is he, why isn't he here yet, gimme gimme_. Patience. He'll be here soon ;)

Hope you're enjoying the Stelena and Bamon feels in the meantime! Feel free to read and review and recommend if inclined.

xx


	3. Chapter 3

"_So you have prepped my team with everything they need to know for tonight."_ Tatia rounded up.

The three girls nodded from where they sat on the couch. Across the coffee table on the opposite couch, the Salvatore brothers mirrored their actions.

"We're all keyed in." Jenna reported.

"_Excellent."_

"We will see you tonight then, gentlemen." Elena wrapped up professionally. "Thank you for the inside information."

"No problem." Damon answered with a wry smile towards Bonnie. "We figured it would be the easiest way to keep you in the loop."

Bonnie pointedly ignored his gaze. Now was not the time to get caught up in his intensely handsome…_Bonnie Bennett, behave!_

"A shame your colleague couldn't join us today." Caroline mentioned, noticing how Jenna smiled at the mention of Mr Saltzman.

"Alaric is currently overseas for our company business, but he'll be back soon." Stefan explained. "He'll probably be back before anything serious has happened."

"I'll keep him up to date till then." Jenna said. "He's already called a few – " She bit her lip and looked slightly guilty.

Bonnie came to her rescue. "We'll make sure to keep in touch with him."

"Well, so long as you keep in touch with us." Damon smirked. She finally caught his eye, staring him down to tell him just how much she didn't appreciate the fact that he had somehow got her number.

"Good day ladies…Bonnie Bennett." Damon casually singled her out before turning to reach the door. Stefan seemed to linger back behind his brother.

Elena took the opportunity to retrieve a leatherbound book from her bag.

"I believe this is yours, Stefa – Mr Salvatore."

He turned around instantly, seemingly grateful for the excuse to talk to the gorgeous brunette.

"Oh, wow. Quick reader."

"I couldn't put it down." Elena smiled. "Plus it's the original edition…I didn't want to keep it for too long and risk damaging it."

"I would have easily forgiven you for it in the unlikely event of it happening." Stefan replied.

Damon pointedly sighed and opened the door with slightly too grand a gesture. Bonnie and Caroline shot him daggers with their gaze.

"Are you sure I can't persuade you to keep it for longer?" Stefan asked, too blindly caught up in talking to Elena to acknowledge his brothers impatience to leave.

"I'd feel safer with it in your protecting again." Elena replied, carefully pressing the book into Stefan's hands.

"Very well." Stefan nodded. "Perhaps we could catch up to talk about the book sometime." He seemed not to notice the subtle elbow that Caroline dug into Bonnie's side. Damon, however, noticed Bonnie's quietly exclaimed _'ow!'_, and smirked.

"I'd like that." Elena said, her warm smile lighting up her eyes. Stefan seemed to be unable to look away for a moment, before nodding once more and turning to join his brother in the hall.

A quiet "About time." that sounded like Damon's voice drifted back into the office before the door closed.

"Elena Gilbert, you sly minx." Caroline exclaimed.

Elena, who seemed to be lost in her own happy world, blinked. "What?"

"That was entire professional, Caroline." Jenna said, but winked at Bonnie.

"Then I'm glad I've never worked more than a day in a real professional workforce." Bonnie grinned. "It seems like a proper love battlefield."

"You don't know the half of it." Jenna sighed.

"Can I do it, Tatia? Can I?" Caroline pleaded towards the com box.

"_Match making, Caroline?" _Tatia sounded amused. On another continent, in particular, on a warm, sunny island, a figure stood looking out on fierce waves, surfboard firmly planted in the sand. _"Well, even I could tell from listening in that there seems to be a sea of emotion over there."_

"So that's a yes?" Caroline asked excitedly.

"_So long as it doesn't compromise the mission…yes."_

"Seriously?" Elena gasped. "Isn't there some sort of law against that?"

Tatia laughed. _"We're not exactly a government run organisation now, are we?"_

…

The Sixties Red Cross Dance was held in New York every year to raise funds for their services towards natural disaster victims and military families, but mostly for their blood donation drive. They would be collecting pledges of blood, like starving vampires in the night. But for the fun side, it was themed by decade. This year was the year of the Sixties, allowing wealthy businessmen to dress in sharp suits, playboys to dress in ironically flashy shirts, wives to dress like Jackie Kennedy, and femme fatales to dress as fantasy femmes of the sixties cinema.

And Elena was dressed up as one of the wait staff. True, she was dressed in a thoroughly cute retro waitress costume, she didn't look hideous, but she had drawn the short straw for the Angel's plans at the dance that night and that meant she was on staff duty.

Bonnie mingled through the crowd, dressed as a hippy with flowers woven through her dark hair. She was the easily approachable Angel for the night.

Caroline went for the other end of sixties fashion, dressing herself as a Marianne Faithful-type in over the knee black boots and a mini dress, flaunting her long legs. She would be the seductive blonde for the night.

The Angels circulated through the party, mingling to gather information. Elijah clearly circulated the business world regularly, and was well known by everyone. They would find relevant information easily, it was only a matter of digging.

…

"Hey," A grinning man in a dark suit came up to Caroline as she scanned the room once more. She sighed and smiled coldly at him, already suspecting that he didn't know anything about Elijah. And she'd maybe had enough of the same kinds of men chatting her up for the time being.

"Thanks, I don't really want to talk." She said shortly.

The man wasn't moved. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to dance – "

"I'm good, thanks." She said again.

"Then maybe – "

"No." Caroline said bluntly before smiling politely and taking a flute of champagne from a nearby waiter, walking away from the persistent man. She slowly walked through the crowd of guests, deciding that she needed a little breather. No amount of flirting would bring them closer to finding Elijah at this point.

She watched Bonnie charm her way through the crowd and smirked when she saw her watching Damon across the room both warily and curiously. Of course. Caroline wouldn't be too harsh; her friend did need to meet someone who was honest about who they were. Damon was an ass, he knew he was an ass, and he made no qualms about it. But Caroline did need to remind them that they were working, and the men that her co-workers were interested in also happened to be their clients.

She took a sip from her glass and fought the urge to drain the whole thing. At least her friends could find guys to be interested in. Caroline was tired of being the only charmer in her conversations with the opposite gender. Men were just a little too full of themselves for her taste, and that would be fine if they could only deliver. The difference between confidence and arrogance was that a confident man could pull through on everything he promised. An arrogant man would promise the moon and stars and give back only air.

Or maybe she was just a little bitter tonight.

Caroline noticed a man watching her as she leaned against a pillar, and she sighed.

"Are you looking for someone?"

"I'm just looking." Came the arrogant reply, and she would have sassed back, but the English accent made her falter as her knees weakened. _Snap out of it!_ Caroline told herself.

"Then look somewhere else."

"Now why would I do that, when a charming young woman is here by herself?"

"Maybe she wants to be alone."

"Maybe I can change her mind." The man smirked, strolling closer in a casual manner. It still put Caroline's danger senses into overdrive.

"Stay where you are." She said in a slightly commanding voice. She took a breath and relaxed her heightened senses. "Don't waste your time." Caroline added in a more laid-back manner.

The dark blonde man halted, but he lifted his hands unthreateningly. "I can assure you that my intentions are entirely honorable."

Caroline scoffed wordlessly. He held her gaze, and the heat from his blue eyes made her shiver slightly. She rolled her eyes just to break contact, and nodded in acceptance for him to come closer. It had been a while since she'd talked to someone so arrogant, she could use the exercise.

The man walked forward slightly closer, and Caroline was surprised at the distance he kept from her. His wolfish smile told her that his intentions were perhaps something else, but she was curious enough to talk.

"Sean Connery look, I'm guessing from the accent and suit." She noted his dark grey suit and sleek style. He looked at her askance, and she raised her eyebrows. "Its obviously an English cut suit, but you can't tell me the accent is real."

"Then I won't tell you, because it is." He said with a smirk.

"But you technically just told me." Caroline said with a laugh.

The man tilted his head, regarding her as she let down her guard slightly to laugh. She glanced at him before taking another sip of her champagne.

"The Marianne Faithful style suits you well, but it's a shame you didn't go for the costume from _Girl on a Motorcycle_," He commented, smirking as Caroline's eyes widened. "A leather jumpsuit would have served you well while you circulated the room."

"I don't know what you – "

"But you do, sweetheart."

Caroline bristled at the pet name. "Sweetheart?!"

He raised his eyebrows with a playful smile before continuing. "I'm supposing you're here tonight to find a charming businessman to date."

"Well I wouldn't pick you." She snapped.

"And I wouldn't let it phase me." He retorted. Something about the way he said it, the way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, made her think that it wouldn't phase him because he would be a persistent pursuer. And it was kind of charming, coming from him.

"I'm Caroline." She introduced herself with a sigh. He'd broken through her calm composure and fired her up; he had earned her name at least.

He smiled, and it seemed genuine this time, a smile of actual happiness rather than a smirk.

"Nik," He replied, reaching out to shake her hand. The mere gesture itself impressed Caroline; a handshake to her was one of a list of things that implied that she was his equal, and she damned well was, if not his better. And a handshake could speak volumes about a man. From that alone this Nik seemed to be impressive. His grasp was firm but not overbearing, confident but warm. His fingers brushed across hers slowly as he pulled his hand away, sending electricity up her arm.

"So, Caroline," Nik said her name like he was savoring its taste on his tongue…

_Focus_, she told herself.

"What are you doing here at the Red Cross event, if you're not seeking a future rich husband?" Nik's eyes just sparked with mischief, and Caroline couldn't help her sass mouth. She was provoked, all right?

"You caught me out. I can't pretend anymore." Caroline leaned in close, using every move she knew so well just to fool him. "I'm just a gold digger looking for money. I'm also stealing all your secrets as we speak."

"Somehow I can't seem to believe you." Nik murmured back in similar dulcet tones, but his eyes flickered to her mouth for just a moment, and she knew she had him where she wanted him.

"And why is that?" She asked sweetly, enjoying his attention as his eyes grew darker, taking pleasure in toying with him. God knew she needed more men like this who actually kept her on her toes.

Nik looked at her lips for a moment, and she almost thought he was about to kiss her. But then his dark blue eyes caught hers and didn't let go.

"Because this is all a front. I've seen you tonight, seen how you alternate between coyly charming and fiercely flirting, and I know that every move is calculated." Nik smirked. "Ah, but there's more. You're bored. You're bored, sweetheart, and its because you haven't really seen anything in the world to intrigue you."

"I've seen plenty." Caroline retorted hotly, and it was true.

"But it doesn't enchant you as it once did. The events and the people, its losing its enchantment, and it bores you." His eyes were mesmerizing her, and she found herself cornered rather than her cornering him as she had planned.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret," Nik murmured, leaning in. "There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities, and art, and music. Genuine beauty, not just this glamour. And you can have all of it. All you have to do is ask."

Caroline was entranced by his every word until the last sentence, which kicked her femininity back in.

"What, and some billionare playboy like yourself will give it to me?"

"If that's what you want." Nik smirked.

"Why?" She challenged.

He shrugged. "You are a fascinating creature."

"Thanks, but I've heard that line before." Caroline smiled coldly. She made to move past him, but he blocked her, stepping just so till she found herself against the pillar with barely an inch of air between them.

Caroline wasn't worried. She knew how to break his arm sixty ways to Sunday, but she didn't want to cause a scene.

"So much for the honorable intentions." Caroline huffed. "Whats your deal anyway? Scamming innocent women?"

"I highly doubt you are that innocent, sweetheart." Nik said, enjoying her confusion when he didn't attempt to touch her like she thought he would, just staying an inch away. She cocked an eyebrow when he didn't answer her question, and he sighed. "I'm a businessman. I own a number of buildings in this town. Among other things."

"Other things?"

"Yes."

"Those being?"

Nik had the audacity to laugh. "By all means, have at it, sweetheart, but contrary to your plans, I'm not about to spill my deepest, darkest secrets to you." His eyes had gone from desirous to challenging, and Caroline was never one to back down from a challenge. She stared him down, and he stubbornly did the same.

"Hi folks! Can I get y'all anything?"

Caroline looked to the left to find Elena smiling a thousand watt smile, tray of snacks in hand.

"No, thank you." Nik said shortly, his eyes not leaving Caroline.

"Actually, I'd love one of these." Caroline shifted out and away from Nik, her skin regretting the absence in body heat almost immediately. She took a napkin and sushi roll from Elena's tray. "And do you know where the rest room is?" She added.

"I'll direct you, miss." Elena said.

Caroline accidentally knocked the napkin tower to the floor in front of Nik. She smiled apologetically to Elena, whose smile shrank a few teeth.

"Just let me pick these up." Elena bent to retrieve the napkins, keeping an eye on her tray as she did so. A sensor on the edge of the tray she was carrying flashed subtly once as it passed Nik's right calf, then again by his chest.

When she straightened up again with a smile, Nik was eyeing her curiously. He turned swiftly to Caroline with a smile tight across his lips.

"Till we meet again, Caroline."

"Who says we will?" She retorted.

"I say we will." He returned smartly, winking and leaving her infuriated and more than a little turned on.

Elena kept her fake smile in place, taking Caroline to the women's powder room. Once there, she glanced around before smacking Caroline's arm. And none too lightly.

"_OW!_ What was that for?" Caroline glared at the brunette.

"Why were you flirting with him?" Elena hissed.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, you and Stefan – "

"But that's different. You were flirting with our mark."

Caroline's face went blank. "What?"

"Klaus. Niklaus Mikaelson."

"_Nik-_Klaus? Oh, Caroline, you idiot." She frowned at Elena's judging look. "He said his name was Nik! That's a perfectly normal, honest mistake."

"Forget about that – Klaus was meant to be Bonnie's target tonight."

"Well he still is, right?"

Elena tilted her head. "Maybe not after that…he clearly is interested in you…"

Caroline groaned. "Seriously? No. Nu-uh. Not Blonde Distraction. Not after last time."

"C'mon, Care…" Elena pleaded.

Caroline folded her arms and stared her friend down. "The last time we did that plan was back when you were dating Matt and wasn't sure and wanted to see how things panned out, so I distracted his friend Tyler."

Elena bit her lip. "Ahh. Yeah."

"Yeah." Caroline nodded. "And I'm still stuck in the casual shame spiral of drunken Tyler hook ups."

"But this would be different. For the mission!" Elena concluded persuasively. "All you need to do is go back out there and charm the pants off of him. Maybe not literally." She added with a wince.

Caroline sighed, and ran her hands through her hair a few times to spruce it up. "Fine. Okay. Fine."

"I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself for some ritual, Care." Elena teased, picking up her tray and checking her appearance in the mirror.

"Yeah, well, hopefully it won't come down to that." Caroline said. "Is he armed?"

"Yes. One in his jacket and one by the right leg." Elena listed off.

"Well I'm wearing the Kevlar anyway." Caroline sighed. "I'll get to work."

"And I'll find Bonnie and tell her about the new plan."

…

"Bonnie," Jeremy spotted her in the crowd. She bit her tongue. _Shit_. She kept her cursing inside her head so it wouldn't get her into trouble.

"Hey, Jer." She smiled politely.

"Great to see you here." He said, and she nodded awkwardly.

A beat passed.

"Want to dance?"

She would have said no, but it gave her a good chance to subtly scan the crowd. Bonnie took Jeremy's offered hand and swayed to the music.

"So how have you been?"

Bonnie shrugged. "You know, the usual. Work, work, work. And you?"

"Good." Jeremy forced a smile. "The art business is really taking off. I've got offers coming in from all sides. I'm meant to be talking to a possible buyer here tonight."

"That's great." Bonnie smiled. She was genuinely happy for Jeremy's success – she just didn't want to get sucked into the sweet guy act anymore. "Don't you want to go talk to them now?"

Jeremy sighed. "I'd rather talk to you. Listen, Bonnie…I'm really sorry about what happened, I – "

"May I?" A deep voice interrupted, and Bonnie turned her head to see Damon Salvatore. She never thought she'd be happy, even grateful to see him, but she was.

Jeremy watched for Bonnie's approval, and she nodded, smiling kindly at him as he walked away toward the bar.

Damon held up both of his hands and she frowned in confusion until she remembered what decade they were dressed as. She linked her fingers through his and told herself to forget about how well their hands interlocked, like they were made for each other.

"I cannot believe that I'm saying this, but thank you." Bonnie gritted through her teeth. Damon tilted his head questioningly, and she elaborated. "For interrupting my dance."

"I just wanted to cause you more trouble, what can I say?" He grinned, and she narrowed her eyes. He spun her out and then in so her back rested against his chest. Their bodies swayed together.

Bonnie ignored the shiver that ran through her as Damon murmured in her ear. "I've got to say, its impressive watching the team work."

"We do well together. Take care of each other." Bonnie replied with a hint of fondness.

"So you'd lay it all on the line for each other, no matter what." He said darkly.

"No matter what." She said fiercely. "But don't ever repeat that."

"Secret's safe with me." Damon scoffed. "Not that it would matter with all that power between the three of you."

Bonnie smirked. "A little intimidated, Mr Salvatore?"

"Do I look like the kind of guy to get intimidated?" He shot back. He spun her and drew her in towards him again, catching her around the waist so they were face to face.

"Call me Damon." He said, and she was about to correct him, but his eyes latched onto hers and she didn't get a chance to speak. All she could do was nod.

"How is the hunting going anyway?"

"Perfectly fine, thank you." Bonnie snipped, trying to not get sucked in by his charm.

"I can tell. Watching your progress across the floor, its easy to guess that you and Blondie are going home with half of the room's phone numbers."

Bonnie tried to hide the smirk that came to her lips upon hearing the possessive edge in Damon's voice. "Careful, Damon. I might start to think you actually care."

He chuckled, and she bit her lip at the dark sound. "Well, we wouldn't want that."

Bonnie gave in and looked up, meeting his gaze. Damon's eyes were as bright and seemingly innocent as hers were dark and guarded, and they were drawn to each other intoxicatingly.

"We've got a problem."

Bonnie broke contact with Damon to find that Elena had been the one to murmur to her from where she handed out refreshments to guests.

"Caroline's been flirting with the mark."

"You've got to be kidding me." Bonnie sighed.

"We're doing the Blonde Distraction."

"Great, but this guy is the big bad." Damon interjected, and Elena broke out of character to shoot him a frown for a second before her sweet smile came back and she swung her tray around to hand out more refreshments.

"Thank you for your input, Mr Salvatore, but I think its time you leave us to do our job." Bonnie reminded him coolly, stepping out of his hold. She smiled at him without her teeth before nodding to Elena in agreeance with the new plan, and moving away through the crowd. Damon watched her go before realizing that Elena was studying him. He brushed it off easily, becoming his cocky self once more as he drew two other women close to dance with.

Elena rolled her eyes and walked away with her empty tray. What an ass he was. But also, what an ass he had. He was good looking, but he didn't need to know it so well. She had to admit that Bonnie would certainly cut him down to size and they would be well suited in that aspect, but she didn't want to see Bonnie get hurt again. She was attached to her co-workers, hell, they were her friends, and if anyone tried to hurt them, she would bring that bastard some pain.

…

Caroline searched through the crowd to find the elusive Niklaus Mikaelson. She began to panic once she realized that he was nowhere to be found. The one thing they had to do tonight and she'd screwed it up by flirting with the mark. She couldn't believe it. She should have checked the photos in the file but she figured that since she wasn't on mark duty, she'd only need to worry about Elijah, the kidnapped victim.

She was just passing by the elevators for the fourth time when she spotted Klaus shrugging on his coat as he strode towards the doors. She ran after him, not caring about how ridiculous she looked.

"Kl-Nik?" Caroline called, almost giving herself away but catching her tongue just in time.

He didn't turn around.

"Nik!" She called loudly. She ran a few more steps until she literally bumped into his back. Her brain panicked for a moment before she realized the best role to play in this circumstance was cutesy.

Klaus turned with a frown until he realized who had knocked into him.

"Hello? Did you not hear me?" Caroline asked with wide eyes, bringing a smile to his face.

"Was that you caterwauling? I think the whole of New York City heard you."

She scowled – they had only been talking for five seconds and he was already pushing her buttons. "You're leaving." She noted.

"I'm in no mood for company." He admitted darkly.

"Not even in the mood to get me another drink?" Caroline fished.

Klaus fought a smile. "No, sweetheart, I got what I came for. Besides, I'm sure you have plenty of men fighting for the chance to do so. I don't need to compete." He pressed the button for the lifts and Caroline swore that it was the first time in history that the lift arrived earlier than expected. She had the worst timing ever.

"What if I told you there was no competition?" She rushed out as he strolled towards the open lift.

Klaus paused before turning back to look at her, a smirk on his lips. It should have put her at ill ease, but she was too concerned about letting the mark slip away without any form of contact to pay attention to her gut feelings.

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving."

"Then maybe you can buy me a drink another time."

He raised an eyebrow at her bold statement before walking into the lift.

Caroline turned to head back to the party and began to curse herself. _Stupid, no good, why can't you do anyth-_

"Caroline," Klaus' voice sounded, and she turned to see he was close behind her. She couldn't help but inhale a silent gasp, though his smirk told her that he had heard it all the same. He held out his hand expectantly, and she frowned in confusion.

"If I'm going to take you out for that drink, I'll need some form of contact." Klaus explained with amusement, and Caroline jumped.

"Right, of course." She plucked a card with her number from her purse and placed it in his upturned palm.

Klaus smirked down at her. "Its been a pleasure, Caroline." He murmured in his devilish accented voice, before retreating into the lift.

Caroline watched him go with warmth flowing through her body like fire. Yup. She'd need that drink. Right now. Maybe ten of them.

…

"Hey! There you are!" Caroline bounded up to Stefan, as bubbly as the glasses of champagne she had continued to consume all night after Klaus' departure. She latched onto his shoulder to keep from tipping over, and giggled.

"Have you seen the view yet?" She asked. "Because it looks amazing at night. And I can show you if you want." She needed to get him alone to set her plan in motion. If her friends were going to fall for their clients, then damnit, she was going to help them out! Or perhaps that was the champagne talking. Either way, Caroline was convinced that Stefan and Elena would be epic. And they could be called Stelena, which just sounded awesome in her head anyway.

She grinned conspiratorially up at Stefan, who studied her carefully in his typical brooding manner.

"I think you've had a bit too much to drink." He said carefully, which only made her grin broader.

"Well of course I have!" Caroline brushed some lint off of Stefan's shoulder, prepping him up. "So…"

"Caroline, you and me...its not going to happen." Stefan said slowly. "I'm sorry."

Caroline frowned. That wasn't part of the plan. Stefan made to walk away, but she latched onto him.

"Thanks for the blow off, but I actually wanted to talk to you about something." She said.

He stopped and turned to face her again, an embarrassed blush lighting the tips of his ears. "Oh."

…

Elena set down the tray by the bar and checked her watch. Still at least an hour left, and the party was still going strong. She studied the crowd and her eyes were drawn to Stefan Salvatore, as she had been all night. She couldn't help it. There was just something about him. And she couldn't help but notice that he was doing the same with her. Their eyes met more often than not. But she had a job to do. And he was a client.

Although, they had technically met before he was the Angels client…

_No, _Elena told herself. _Behave._

She looked back up to spy him again, and saw that he was making his way across the room with her deliberately in his sights. Being the adorable klutz she was, Elena subtly checked behind herself to see if Stefan was really walking over to see someone else, but no, it was her he wanted to see. The mere thought put a tingle through to her toes, and she hid her smile well as Stefan drew nearer.

"Hi there, sir, what can I get you?" Elena asked coyly.

Stefan smiled, glancing down almost shyly to his shoes before peeking up at her through his long lashes. "Caroline asked me to bring you this." He held a black bag out for her to take. Elena carefully took it from his grasp, frowning in confusion.

"I don't understand."

"She also told me to tell you to check it and go get changed." Stefan continued, his playful smile never leaving his lips. "And I do get the feeling that you don't need reminding of this, but I thought it was fair to tell you that the ladies room is over that side," He pointed to the right. "While the mens room is over there." He pointed to the left.

Elena was very thankful for the fact that she had learned to control her blush long ago. However, it didn't stop her from being embarrassed. "Damn. I should have known that you'd remember me from before all this."

"How could I forget?" Stefan chuckled, before realizing the connotation of what he said and adding "With an entrance like that?"

Elena still smiled at his words regardless. "Promise that you'll not let it cloud your judgment of me?"

Stefan nodded, and she looked at him expectantly, needing words.

"I promise." He said solemnly, save for his cheeky green eyes.

"Good." She nodded with a smile, before slipping past him to find out what Caroline had planned for her.

…

Bonnie wandered through the crowd, trying to find Caroline. She had seen the blonde earlier and had a feeling that someone needed to keep an eye out for her after she had tried to still her nerves with champagne.

The Angel scanned the room again, faltering when she locked eyes with Damon. She would never admit to it, but her heart fluttered slightly. Something about the way his eyes cut through her, that intense gaze of his…

And something about the way he was with another woman, yeah, that cut through her too.

Bonnie watched as the woman he had been dancing with latched onto his hand, pulling him towards the door. He held her gaze for another long moment before turning and leaving with the giggling red-head.

"_Careful, Damon, I might start to think you actually care."_

"_Well, we wouldn't want that."_

Of course. He had been warning her off before. Idiot. She clenched her eyes shut for a second, berating herself for even developing feelings – no, nothing, she had no emotions about this whatsoever, of course not. Bonnie exhaled slowly before opening her eyes again and searching for Caroline.

…

Elena walked back out in a classic sixties gogo dancer outfit. Stefan, who had been keeping an eye out for her return, found that he couldn't look away. He crossed the room without a second thought just to talk to her.

She smiled up at him. "What do you think?"

"Caroline has very good taste." He managed. "You look beautiful."

Elena's smile turned into a full blown grin. "Thank you." She glanced out onto the floor and bit her lip. "A little controvertial, but would you like to dance?"

Stefan grimaced slightly. "I don't dance."

Elena's smile shrank, and she nodded. "That's okay. I'll just find someone else to – " Before she could even finish, Stefan had grabbed her hand and twirled her out onto the floor.

"You seem to be in a good mood tonight, Mr Salvatore." Elena commented as they spun around on the floor.

Stefan smiled. "Is that a bad thing? Would you prefer me to be brooding and tortured?"

She laughed. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

"So any word on how the hunt for our man is going?" He asked.

_Right, the mission. They were on a mission_. She reminded herself.

"Not quite. We're after his brother tonight. But I'll admit we were hoping that your 'pre-business partner' would make an appearance. He's probably not going to show." Elena frowned.

"You mean we did all this dancing for nothing?" Stefan asked with a sly smile.

"Oh, the horror!" She added with a laugh.

He grinned, before sighing. "I'm really sorry for all of this."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Please. You're giving us an interesting job to do. We decided to take it, it was our choice, and we signed up for it, so I don't want to hear you apologizing anymore, you hear?" She said mock-sternly.

Stefan smiled slightly. "Yes ma'am."

"Great. Now, you know your history. Show me how it was done in the sixties."

"Ah, no. There were better moves in the fifties anyway."

Elena pouted. "Come on then, one move?"

Stefan shook his head, and she sighed and pulled back, only for him to pull her in again and hoist her up by her waist. He dipped her down again so her legs went straight up in the air on his left, then swung her so she did the same for his right. Elena caught a glance of the surprised guests from her upside down position before Stefan's hands lifted her and set her back down on the ground.

"Now, you remember that, because I will never be doing that again." Stefan said, and she laughed. They smiled at each other, trapped in a perfect moment, and Elena realized she was getting too close to the client.

"Excuse me." She murmured, before weaving easily through the couples still on the dance floor.

…

Caroline hovered over her coffee, rubbing her temples. So maybe taking advantage of the champagne after Klaus had left was a bad idea. Or a really terrible idea.

Bonnie sighed over her latte. "Are you sober enough for a cab yet?"

Caroline glanced up at her, blinking as the room spun. "No." She answered miserably.

"Keep drinking," Bonnie encouraged. "I gotta get you home. And then I gotta get me home."

"You can stay at mine, its fine." Caroline said blearily.

"I've seen the hungover you, and its not pretty. No offence." Bonnie smiled.

Caroline sighed. "I screwed up tonight."

Bonnie patted her hand affectionately. "You did fine. But maybe getting a little wasted wasn't the best plan. Though you did do it after the mark left, so that's fine too."

Caroline groaned. "Aside from that. Stefan thought I was hitting on him when I was trying to get him alone to talk about Elena."

"That's an honest mistake." Bonnie soothed.

Caroline ran her hands through her blonde locks in a disarray. "And his reply was a bit rude anyway. Why didn't he go for me?"

Bonnie frowned. "Cause he's into Elena." She studied Caroline carefully. "But its not just that, is it. You're wondering why _you_ can't seem to find the right guy."

"I'm inappropriate, I always say the wrong thing…" Caroline listed off. "And Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try and he just picks her, and she just finds a great guy. And I try so hard, and I'm never the one."

Bonnie latched onto her hand. "Hey. You'll find him. You just need to accept who you're attracted to. You can't find excuses to deny your feelings. Like Jenna said."

Caroline smiled a watery smile at her friend, squeezing her hand. "Sorry, Bon. I'm sorry I'm such a mess."

"And I'm not?" Bonnie retorted with a smile. "Everything's a mess. Life's a mess. We just have to get used to it."

* * *

Heyo!

Klaus has finally made an entrance. :P

Please read and review and tell me how its going, and what you'd like to see! I may or may not be planning to do an update of some kind by next weekend (whaaaat?! I'm actually vaguely organised?!) so definitely tell me what you're thinking, what you'd like to see, and any character cameos you'd like to see too!

xx


	4. Chapter 4

Caroline, Elena and Bonnie sat around the coffee table at the Agency. Their eyes were focused intently on Caroline's mobile phone, which sat on the table top between them.

Jenna walked in with the usual four Starbucks coffees. "Still nothing?"

"Yup." Elena said slowly.

"Its been two days." Jenna smiled. "You didn't seriously expect him to be calling and declaring his love. Men like that take their time."

"Did you even flirt with him?" Bonnie asked Caroline. The blonde scowled back at her.

"Oh, believe me, she did." Elena interjected before Caroline could respond.

"Well then maybe it wasn't enough flirting." Bonnie mused.

"It was enough." Elena nodded. "He looked like he was about to eat her up like the Big Bad Wolf before I rescued her."

"I'm right here, you know." Caroline huffed, and Elena caved, slinging her arm around her best friend and giving her a hug as they sat on the couch. Bonnie jumped over to her other side and mirrored Elena, enveloping Caroline in a very caring sandwich hug.

"Okay." Caroline sighed with a smile. "Time for Plan B."

…

When one typed Niklaus Mikaelson into Google, around 186,000 hits would be shown. There was a Wikipedia entry that spoke of his business achievements and little else – a note at the bottom stating that 'Wikipedia would appreciate your help in expanding this article'. There was another hit that came up with a tumblr blog dedicated to his every known move – and that too was not full of information, though it was certainly full of admirers. Yet another was entitled 'Keep Calm and Wait for Lord Niklaus Miaekson'…the Angels didn't pause for long there. There was also a few advertisements for his bars and clubs, and it was one of these in particular that the Angels turned to.

Bonnie walked down the street dressed in a seductive black 1920s flapper dress. It had been a while since she had worn something so provocative.

"I feel ridiculous." She muttered quietly, seemingly to herself.

"Nonsense, you look hot." Elena said, reapplying her lipstick in the bathroom. She was already at the club in a charming white dress, and very thankful that no one else could hear her talking to Bonnie through their molar microphones and Bluetooth earpieces.

"Yeah, well I don't see why we need to keep in touch this way." Bonnie said, looking around to check that no one could see the crazy girl talking to herself. She exhaled and walked up to the neon-lit club doors.

"After last time, we can't risk any one of us not knowing what's going on." Caroline said. She alone out of the Angels had no fear of anyone overhearing her as she sat backstage in a dressing room with a flashy red beaded dress still hanging by the door. However, she had plenty to fear due to the fact that she was masquerading as the entertainment for the night.

"We'll stay in touch and see what information we can get from this half-brother." Elena added, doing a final appraisal and heading back out to her date for the evening. Stefan smiled as she wove through the small tables to get to his booth.

"How is everything?" He asked.

"Peachy." She replied. "And thanks for coming along. I hope our plan isn't going to be an inconvenience for you."

Stefan waved it off. "Not at all. I'm just honored to be your date tonight. For the mission." He added.

Elena couldn't help but smile anyway. "Thank you. You brushed up well – you look very dapper."

"You look very beautiful." Stefan took in her angelic white dress before returning to gaze into Elena's dark eyes.

…

Bonnie walked into the club and surveyed the room, trying to find Klaus Mikaelson. Her search came up short, and she decided to get a drink from the bar so she'd at least relax a little. She rested her weight against the counter and waited to grab the bartender's attention.

"I was wondering when a girl like you would show up," A velvety voice sounded behind Bonnie.

Bonnie smiled, turning slowly to face Klaus.

"Well clearly now the party can get started." She said. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you must be Niklaus Mikaelson."

He chuckled. "You know me. Fantastic."

"Who hasn't heard of you?" She asked rhetorically.

"Well seeing as you know who I am, you must be at my club for a reason." Klaus gestured towards the bar. "Might I offer you a drink?"

"I'd love one." Bonnie smiled carefully, drawing closer to the devil for information.

…

_Breathe, Caroline, just breathe._ Caroline pep talked herself. _You can do this._ She rolled her eyes. _Like its so easy. Just cause you talk a lot doesn't mean you know what to say…or sing…You can't express yourself on a regular basis, why add music into the mix? Are you feeling loopy?_

She shook her blonde curls. _You can sing. You are going to sing._

"Honey?"

Caroline looked up to see a woman with cropped platinum blonde hair – Gloria, the stage manager.

"Its your call. Time to shine, girl."

Caroline pasted a bright smile on her face. "Then lets go!"

She strutted out to the stage confidently. However, when she turned to face the crowd, the lights blinded her, making her confidence falter. At a loss for what to say or do next, she glanced around to the big band behind her that had been playing a few basic songs before she arrived.

"Hey everybody, lets hear it for the band!"

The club-goers clapped politely.

Klaus glanced towards the stage and tilted his head slightly.

Bonnie watched him warily. "This isn't going to end well." She muttered quietly, half for Elena's benefit, half for her own.

Caroline took a deep breath as the intro began, and let her jazz side loose.

"_If its naughty to rouge your lips, shake your shoulders and shake your hips, let a lady confess, I want to be bad! If its naughty to vamp the men, sleep each morning till after ten, then the answer is yes, I want to be bad! Boop-boop-a-doop!"_

Caroline made the devastating mistake of looking at the club as the crowd took well to the old songs, feeling more inclined to move towards the dance floor for a twirl. It was a mistake due to the fact that there was a pair of stormy blue eyes that refused to look away from her…and those belonged to Klaus.

_Of freaking course. _Caroline cursed, before her insides clenched in panic. _Does he recognize me?_ She kept her eyes locked on his out of curiosity, and started to regret it as she started to fall under his hypnotic spell. Despite the distance between them, it felt as if they were the only two people in the room…as if his gaze was slipping under all of her clothes, brushing every inch of her skin intimately…_crap, she was still meant to be singing_.

Caroline managed the next few lines of lyrics without much thought, going on auto pilot as she tore her eyes away from Klaus and resolutely stopped looking in the direction of the bar. Now was _so_ not the time to give in to hot eye sex. _Especially _with a businessman slash criminal. A hybrid businessman? Whatever he was, she would not, could not give into the temptations he presented.

…

Elena smiled at Stefan. "Teach me some more moves?"

He kept his face blank. "Oh, no, no, no, no. I can't dance, remember?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Nice try. I was very impressed last time." Elena got to her feet and looked at him expectantly. Stefan smiled, standing and offering his hand to her before leading her to the floor.

"_You do something to me, something that simply mystifies me, tell me why should it be, you have the power to hypnotize me?"_ Caroline watched Elena and Stefan slowly spinning on the floor, and smiled.

Elena bit her lip, feeling the need to justify why she was dancing with Stefan. "So…while we're dancing…I'm going to…keep a lookout…for…"

"I don't need to know, Elena." He said quietly. "You can tell me if you want to, but honestly, I…" He exhaled and looked at his feet. "I enjoy spending this time with you. So I don't need to know why we're dancing. I don't want to know."

Elena was speechless, letting the big grin across her face do the talking for her.

…

Bonnie turned back towards Klaus, knowing that she should distract him and keep him from seeing the beautiful blonde onstage, just in case he should happen to recognize her.

"So, Mr Mikaelson…" She trailed off, waiting for Klaus' gaze to turn back to her. He continued to look towards the stage with an expression of barely concealed surprise and…wait, was that awe? Bonnie kept to her task regardless. "I was wondering whether…"

"Whether you could be the woman to change the elusive Niklaus Mikaelson and save him from his terrible ways?" He tore his eyes away from the stage and smirked at her shocked expression. "Tell me I'm wrong?"

Bonnie remained silent.

"I thought as much." Klaus nodded, knocking back the last of his scotch and walking away through the crowd without another word.

Bonnie remembered to breathe for a moment in her panic before she made her way through the crowd to get to Elena and Stefan.

"We three need to talk." She said quickly before pulling them aside.

"I heard. What a dick." Elena frowned.

"I think its time to move on to Plan C." Bonnie said.

"_Not a chance in hell_." Caroline's voice came across Elena and Bonnie's ear mikes as the blonde took a quick break side of stage to drink some water.

"Care, it makes the most sense. You heard how he completely ran over the plan with a demolition truck." Elena pleaded.

"Agreed." Bonnie said quickly, wanting to get the new plan on the road.

"Fine." Caroline hissed, just as she was pushed back onstage. She scanned the crowd. "I don't see him anywhere. He's gone." She muttered.

"What?" Bonnie frowned, glancing across the room.

"_I went down to the St James Infirmary, I saw my baby there, She's laid out on a cold white table, so so cold, so white, so fair." _Caroline began to sing again, all the while keeping watch for Klaus.

Elena turned around to ask Stefan for any advice, but found that he had vanished. "Stefan?"

"Care, where's Stefan?" Bonnie asked.

"_Let her go, let her go, God bless her, wherever she may be, she may search this wide world over, she'll never find a sweet man like me."_ Caroline's eyes swept the club again and found Stefan…by the bar with Klaus. Disregarding the band still playing behind her and the lyrics she still had to sing, she cleared her throat.

"Guess who my eyes have just spied by the bar, ladies…our very own Mr Mikaelson and Mr Salvatore. Lets give our club owner and his guest a round of applause."

The crowd turned and clapped as Klaus and Stefan looked up from their conversation to realize that they had the attention of the entire room. They smiled and nodded politely. Klaus' eyes burned Caroline, but she continued to smile and sing her song.

Bonnie and Elena made their way carefully through the crowd towards the two men. By the time the women reached the bar, only Stefan was there. Klaus had vanished again.

"What were you doing?" Elena asked Stefan with more than a hint of incredulity in her voice.

"I know the man, Elena." Stefan reasoned. "He came to a meeting once with his brother. I wasn't going to be able to hide from him here, so I figured that I'd at least talk to him."

"And what did you say?" Bonnie asked, her brow furrowed.

"Just the usual things." He answered casually. "I wasn't about to ask him where his brother was. That would be too suspicious."

Bonnie nodded, her eyes going to Caroline on the stage. Even from a distance, even under the pretence of singing and nothing more, she could tell that Caroline didn't believe a word Stefan said. And Bonnie felt the same.

"Okay." Elena smiled, her worry evaporating, oblivious to her two friends telepathic communication. "We might go and sit down for a bit, Bon."

"Good idea." Bonnie agreed. "I'll go wait backstage for Caroline."

Usually the Angels were fine when they got separated.

However this time wasn't the best.

Caroline was in the middle of a jazz take on a more modern song, counting down the minutes till she was able to go backstage and talk to Bonnie.

"_Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling. Do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand? Do you feel the same? Am I only dreaming? Is this burning an eternal flame?"_

"Caroline," Klaus was suddenly there before her in the crowd, holding his hand out to her. Of course he recognised her. Damn. "Will you join me for a dance?"

"I'm a bit busy." She muttered to him in the musical interlude.

"Gloria has kindly agreed to give your break a little early." Klaus replied, nodding towards the wings. Caroline glanced towards the curtains where sure enough Gloria was waiting to go onstage, watching her and Klaus with an almost apprehensive expression, like she worried for the blonde girl.

"Come on, one dance?" Klaus smirked at her. "I won't bite."

"That's debatable." Caroline muttered, not intending for him to hear. His chuckle indicated that he had heard it regardless, and she huffed, nodding to Gloria and taking Klaus hand for him to lead her down the steps and onto the dance floor.

Gloria cut off the last song and reverted back to jazz standards.

"_Someday he'll come along, the man I love, and he'll be big and strong, the man I love, and when he comes my way, I'll do my best to make him stay."_

"You would've loved the 1920s, Caroline. Girls were reckless, sexy, fun. They literally used to dance until they dropped." Klaus grinned, twirling Caroline unexpectedly out and back in, holding her closer than before.

"I don't suppose that ever happened to their dance partners." Caroline grumbled.

"Harsh, love." He tsked. "One would guess that you didn't enjoy my company."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" She asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"You're at my club, aren't you?" He watched her till she met his eyes again. "Why _are_ you at my club, sweetheart?"

"I know you're expecting me to say something like 'Because you didn't call me', but I couldn't stand to do something that you'd expect, so that only leaves the truth." Caroline said slowly, buying time.

"And what is the truth?"

"Paid gig. Girl's gotta eat and pay the rent."

"Poor little rich girl." He cooed, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "I may only be a man, but I know the price of a Red Cross Event ticket. And how much a dress as extravagant as yours could cost." He grinned. "Though I am certainly not complaining. Red suits you very well, sweetheart."

"Says the devil." Caroline snapped back. "I might not know much, but I know a man with an unflatteringly big ego when I see one."

"Oh, how your words wound, sweetheart." He drawled sarcastically.

"You might have everyone on a string, but I can see who you really are." Caroline said heatedly, forgetting herself.

His eyes burned as they locked on hers. "What do you see, then?"

"I see a man who is pretending to be a gentleman when he's really a monster." She hissed. "I see a man with insecurities he's not willing to acknowledge, and I see a man who is hiding something for his own selfish reasons."

Caroline caught her breath, realizing just how close she was to accusing Klaus of kidnapping his own brother when she wasn't meant to know anything about him. "Thank you for this dance, Nik. Its been instructive." Caroline turned out of his arms before he could tighten his hold on her, and made her way back to the stage, slipping through the backstage door.

"Wow, Care." Elena murmured, Stefan frowning as the pair watched the scene unfold.

"I know." Caroline sighed. "Bonnie, where are you?"

"I'm fine." Bonnie's voice sounded in their ears, not answering the question. "I'll see you guys in a bit."

"Bonnie?" Elena asked again more urgently.

"I'm coming out to sit with you guys," Caroline said quickly. "I can't stand being separated right now, it makes me feel blind."

The blonde reappeared, glancing around to check that Klaus was no longer there.

"All clear, Care." Elena confirmed, and she walked over to their booth.

"Mind if I sit with you for a moment?" Caroline smiled brightly, acting for the time being.

"Not at all." Stefan said smoothly. "Great show."

"Love your singing." Elena added with a wink, properly complimenting her friend.

Caroline sighed, taking a gulp of Elena's drink.

"That's not water." She cautioned the blonde.

"I know." Caroline grimaced.

…

Bonnie took out her molar mike as elegantly as she could and switched it off for the time being before turning to the man she had bumped into in the hallway by one of the stage doors.

"What in _hell_ are you doing here?" Bonnie hissed.

"Stefan let slip about his plans, and I thought I'd be some help if I tagged along." Damon explained, meeting Bonnie's fiery gaze with his own. "I wasn't about to let you walk into the lions den on your own now, was I?"

"Well we don't need your 'help'." She said, bending her fingers as quotation marks to emphasize her dislike. "Go home."

"Harsh words, Judgey." Damon teased, and she glared at him.

"Don't call me that. I've had enough of jackasses like you tonight."

"Trust me, there are no jackasses like me." He grinned, stepping in her way as she tried to leave. "I think I've got an idea that might help you. Are you still willing to do whatever it takes to get to this guy?"

"Whatever it takes." Bonnie agreed, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Why? He's got protection. And a club full of people to witness everything."

"You've got the power, you know you do." Damon encouraged. "You can break him."

"I think he knows, though." Bonnie shook her head. "He knows we're after him, Damon. And I get the feeling that he'd easily kill us."

Damon set his jaw. "No. Klaus does not get to win today, he won't be escaping this." Bonnie started to shake her head again, and he cupped her cheek, gently but firmly stopping the movement. "Trust me."

Bonnie's lips parted automatically with his touch, and she felt paralyzed by his electric blue eyes. She did the only thing she could do: Bonnie nodded.

…

"What's he doing here?" She said slowly, looking beyond Caroline's shoulder.

Caroline turned to see someone she never would have expected to see in a 1920s club such as this.

Tyler spotted her and grinned, making his way over to her. She stood up and walked briskly over to him.

"What are you doing here? Are you crazy?" She hissed.

"Maybe I am a little." Tyler said, grabbing Caroline's hand and spinning her under his arm a few times before drawing her close to dance. "I saw you with that guy earlier."

"You have no right to be jealous." She sniffed. "I thought I made it clear. We're through."

"I can't even be a little jealous when the guy is obviously macking all over you?" He rolled his eyes. "Well, I am jealous, but I'm also competitive. I'm going to sweep you off your feet."

And then, Tyler did just that, sweeping her up in his arms and spinning them as she laughed. The moment he set her back down, however, Caroline took a deep breath.

"No, Ty. No means no. We can't be together." She said firmly.

Tyler opened his mouth to speak, but another suave voice cut across whatever he was about to say.

"You don't mind if I cut in, do you?" Klaus stood before the pair.

Caroline turned and bit back a growl. Seriously? She didn't want to deal with either of them right now, but she had to finish off this conversation with Tyler.

"Yes, actually, we do." She snapped at Klaus.

"No, its fine." Tyler said, and Caroline turned to frown at him. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she somehow knew that though they might have this discussion later again, he was accepting her decision for the time being.

Tyler walked away through the crowd and Klaus drew closer to Caroline.

"Why do you have to prove you're the alpha male?" Caroline asked as he swung her into his arms again.

"I don't have to prove anything, love, I am the alpha male." Klaus replied silkily, and she rolled her eyes. "Though you should be nicer to me. I saved you from a very tedious conversation with that boy."

"What if I'd wanted to talk to him?" Caroline frowned.

"He still couldn't give you what I could." Klaus said, his eyes locking on hers.

Caroline scoffed. "Please, don't start that again. You're all talk and no action."

Klaus frowned, and she was pleased to see that she had managed to get under his skin. "You want to know why I didn't call you?"

"No."

"No?"

"I couldn't care less." Caroline sniffed, glancing away.

"I'm leaving town tomorrow."

His words sent a panic through Caroline, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the mission or because of Klaus himself. Regardless, he had her full attention now.

"Understand now why I wouldn't call you, when I was leaving so soon?" Klaus raised his eyebrows. "I'd invite you to come with me, but we both know you're not ready to accept that offer. Besides, I'm 'all talk', as someone so readily stated." He smirked.

"Why should I even take up your offer at any time?" Caroline snapped. She hated all of his charming talk – because it got to her and made her feel things she didn't know she was capable of feeling.

Klaus chuckled at her feistiness. "You mark my words. One day you'll turn up at my door the same way that you did tonight, and let me show you what the world has to offer."

Caroline looked into his eyes and knew that he was right.

Klaus spun her out and kissed her gloved hand before disappearing into the crowd like he had some sort of supernatural speed.

Dazed and a little overwhelmed, Caroline made her way back to the stage, cursing herself for not getting more valid information out of him such as _where_ he was going and _why_.

"Got all that, Bonnie?" Caroline muttered before she stepped up to the mike again.

"Loud and clear." Bonnie murmured back, her molar mike in place and switched on again. She made her way towards where Klaus had materialized at the bar.

"Ah," He sighed without looking up. "Come to try again, have we?"

"Are you always this rude?" Bonnie sassed.

"Only when I'd prefer to brood by myself." Klaus replied, swallowing half of his drink in one gulp.

"Shame. I'm one for brooding too. Maybe we could schedule in a time to brood together this week."

Klaus exhaled and looked at her with a smirk on his face. "I won't be here, though I'm sure you already know all about that."

Bonnie froze, and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Not used to being the one without any knowledge?" Klaus shrugged. "You'll need to get used to it. I'm the only one with all the cards. I wouldn't let it bother you." He knocked back the last swallow of his scotch.

"Well it does bother me." Bonnie gritted. "You bother me."

Klaus placed a hand to his chest in mock pain at her words.

"I've heard plenty about you. You use people to get what you want and its not right." Bonnie said, just as Caroline's hushed voice whispered through her earpiece _"Bonnie!". _She glanced towards the blonde diva onstage, who was covering up her panic well with a smile as she kept singing the modern song.

"_True, everyone thinks you're special, all I see is the devil behind blue eyes,"_

Caroline stared at her friend with frightened, warning eyes.

"You're being emotional." Klaus dismissed.

"Or maybe she's just being rational." Damon's voice sounded from behind Bonnie and Klaus, and they both turned to face him.

"I'll have to talk to the doormen." Klaus said with narrow eyes. "I see they've started to open the doors to the riff raff now."

"Oh, honey, I've been called worse." Damon rolled his eyes, sending a sly wink in Bonnie's direction as she widened her eyes in an attempt to convey the basic message – _What the hell are you doing?!_

"Any reason why you are bothering us?" Klaus asked, and answered his own question instantly. "Oh, no, wait, don't tell me, you're playing the knight in shining armor role."

"When am I anything but?" Damon shrugged, but then shot Klaus a warning look. "Don't answer that." He drew closer and clapped Klaus on the shoulder in a brotherly way. "No, see, I'm here because this lovely lady is in need of your services. You understand the ones I'm talking about?"

Klaus glanced at Damon and Bonnie skeptically, and nodded.

"Naturally. Very well then, my office, five minutes." Klaus stalked off, leaving a very confused Bonnie with Damon. She took out the molar mike again before punching Damon in the shoulder, and she made sure to put some force behind it.

"_Jesus,_ what was that for?" Damon yelped.

"I was doing fine without you." She hissed.

"Were not." He scoffed.

She didn't bother vocalizing an answer, letting her glare speak for her.

"Fine." Damon raised his hands in submission. "It doesn't matter anyway, its all set up."

"What did you mean when you were talking to Klaus about his services?" Bonnie asked. "You failed to mention that before."

Damon shook his head. "Don't worry about that. All you need to know is that he's now in his office and up for questioning. Go do your…witchy thing. Interrogate him. You know. Plan D."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him. "Don't think this is over."

Damon grinned. "Ooh, I'm going to get punished. Look forward to it."

"You're disgusting." She shot at him.

"I know," He whispered back.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and left him by the bar, weaving her way though a few corridors till she came to Klaus' office. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Klaus was sitting behind the desk, only he held something in his hands that she wasn't expecting to see.

"What took you so long?" Klaus asked, twirling the knife expertly in his grasp. He had the nerve to chuckle at the look on Bonnie's face. "Oh, come now, you didn't really think that I had no idea who you were and what you were after." He tilted his head and exhaled, the good-tempered expression leaving his face. "Now leave my brother and I alone. Don't go poking around if you know what's good for you."

"I'm sorry to say that that's not an option." Bonnie retorted, strengthening her stance.

Klaus shrugged. "Very well then. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Bonnie didn't hesitate, moving swiftly towards Klaus and kicking her leg in a roundhouse maneuver that sent his knife clattering to the floor. He didn't even flinch.

"The hard way. Got it."

Klaus suddenly flipped himself across the desk to land on his feet before Bonnie. He ducked in time to avoid her kick and knocked her back onto the desk, pinning her there with his arms.

"I'm stronger than you." He noted with a grin.

"Yeah?" Bonnie huffed. "Well I'm angrier." She slammed her head forward into his, stunning him for long enough to wrench her arms away from his grip and kick him backwards into the office chair opposite. Bonnie held him there with the heel of her shoe against his throat.

"Where is Elijah?" She said fiercely.

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Why should I tell you?"

Bonnie took a moment to take her foot away from his neck and slam it down on his right wrist where it rested on the arm of the chair. Klaus groaned, and Bonnie placed her heel forcefully back against his throat.

"Where. Is. Elijah." She repeated.

Klaus suddenly gripped her leg with his left hand, twisting so that Bonnie lost her balance and stumbled. When she regained her balance, she was surprised to see that he hadn't moved, sitting calmly in the chair as if he owned the place – and he kinda did.

"Is that all you got?" He asked casually.

Bonnie gritted her teeth. "Lets find out."

…

"Caroline, this is code red." Elena muttered as she searched the crowd from where she sat with Stefan in the booth. "I don't know where Bonnie is. Or Klaus."

Caroline scanned the club from the stage, and subtly shook her head. She couldn't find the mark or Bonnie either.

"Lets move to Missing Angel." Elena listed the top maneuver to find a missing team member where all remaining Angels abandoned their roles until their Angel was found.

Caroline finished the last note of her song and made her way over to Gloria on the side of the stage. "I've got to make a trip to the ladies. Can you cover?"

"Sure thing, honey." Gloria said, but there was a look in her eyes that said that she knew more about what might be happening.

Caroline didn't have time to investigate when Bonnie was missing, so she filed it away for later and ran to meet Elena and Stefan in the corridor behind the stage.

"There you are." Elena grabbed Caroline and they started to run along the winding corridors with Stefan in tow behind them. They came to a sudden halt when Damon walked out in front of them.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked in surprise.

Caroline had seen him appear earlier and talk to Bonnie, so she wasn't as shocked. "Where's Bonnie?"

"She's doing what she has to do." Damon said cryptically.

"What?" Caroline's eyes widened, expecting the worst.

Stefan seemed to know what to expect, but he didn't agree with it. "Damnit, Damon, where is she?" He growled.

"She'll be okay, Stefan." Damon soothed, but Stefan pushed his brother out of the way and started running. The Angels followed him now.

"I know where she is, and I think she's in trouble." Stefan explained, turning in certain places to get to different hallways like he knew the place. Caroline started to slow down uncertainly as her mind filled with doubt against Stefan, but Elena pulled her along, and she knew that regardless of the trouble they might be running into, they had to save Bonnie.

Stefan stopped in front of an office door, trying the handle. It was locked.

Elena and Caroline caught up and looked through the glass window in the door.

Bonnie was in the middle of combat with Klaus. Elena instantly tried her weight against the door to no avail.

"We've got to get in there." Caroline reasoned, spying a window on the other side of the office. "I'll try and get to that window and then – " She cut off her own words with a gasp as Bonnie spied them through the door and gripped Klaus, launching them both out of the window Caroline had just been planning an attack around.

"Bonnie, no!" Elena cried out, slamming her entire body into the door repetitively to open it. The door finally swung open, and the Angels and Stefan raced into the room.

"What the hell did she think she was doing?" Caroline asked, running over to the window.

"She didn't want Klaus to see us, I think." Elena said slowly. "And if Klaus hurt himself in the fall we'd have an easier time taking him in for questioning."

"Yeah, but it was a stupid, reckless decision." Caroline frowned. Her eyes widened at the scene she saw out of the window. "Elena…"

"What?" Elena asked, peering out of the broken window herself and gasping.

Bonnie lay on the ground below them, sprawled out like a fallen angel. There was no sign of Klaus anywhere.

"I don't…I cant…how did he…" Caroline shook her head, climbing out the window and sliding down a drain pipe to get to Bonnie. Elena was too shocked to do more than fight back tears. Stefan wrapped his arms around her uncertainly, and she clung to him like he was her lifeline.

Caroline ran over to Bonnie, checking her body for any signs of life, a pulse, a breath…nothing.

"Elena, I can't find a pulse…Elena, what do I do…" Caroline started babbling to her fellow Angel who had tears streaming down her face in the two storey window above her. Damon appeared on the fire escape nearby, his eyes wide as he raced down the steps towards the two women.

"Call an ambulance, or something, anything." Caroline pleaded Damon as he came to crouch beside Bonnie.

"Its too late. I'm sorry." He murmured.

"No. No, no, no, it can't be too late." Elena cried, and Stefan held her tighter. Damon glanced up at his brother and then at Caroline.

"Stefan, get Elena out of here. You should go with them, Blondie."

She scowled, removing the molar mike from her mouth so Elena couldn't overhear. "Fat chance I am leaving her with you. I don't trust you for a second, Salvatore." She snapped back softly.

His eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed. "Fine. Just play along."

Caroline frowned. "What?"

Damon cut off her protest. "I'll deal with the body." He called up to Stefan.

"What do you mean deal with the body?" Elena growled, pulling against Stefans arms as if she would launch herself out the window just to pummel Damon. "This is Bonnie!"

"Take care of her while I clean this up." Damon continued insensitively.

"No, nononono!" Elena cried. Stefan murmured something to her soothingly and she relaxed slightly, before crumbling in his arms. He led her out of the office.

The moment they were gone from the window, Caroline punched Damon in the nose.

"_OW!_" He hissed. "What's that for?"

"If you had anything to do with this, and I know you did," Caroline growled. "I am going to murder you. I don't care. I'll do the jail time."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Urgh, all of you, so righteous." He rubbed his nose. "You sure do pack a punch though." Damon looked down at Bonnie's half-opened eyes and his face contorted into something akin to sadness. Caroline watched in fascination. She'd never seen so much emotion from the man.

He closed her eyes gently and lifted his head to look at Caroline.

"I'll explain everything later, but for now, for all intents and purposes, Bonnie is dead." He muttered so lowly Caroline almost didn't catch it. "Got that?"

She nodded.

"Okay," Damon carefully lifted Bonnie into his arms, cradling her head on his shoulder. "Lets go."

"Where are we going?" Caroline asked.

"The morgue." Damon answered darkly, raising his eyebrows at Caroline. She frowned, suddenly realizing the reason for his odd behavior. Klaus might still be around. That clearly had something to do with whatever this plan was. So she followed him, allowing a few tears that she had been holding back course down her cheeks.

* * *

Uh-oh, Bonnie's in a pickle! :s

But otherwise hi! Hope you've enjoyed this latest instalment. :)

Songs mentioned (in order of appearance):

_I Want To Be Bad_ – Helen Kane (fun fact: Betty Boop is rumored to be based on this lovely 1920s Jazz singer)

_You Do Something To Me_ – Sinead O'Connor (in 3x20 of TVD)

_St James Infirmary Blues_ – Louis Armstrong (or sung by Gloria in 3x03)

_Eternal Flame_ – The Bangles (or sung by Caroline/Candice Accola in 2x16)

_The Man I Love_ – Helen Forrest (in 3x20 of TVD)

_Sweet Jealousy_ – Candice Accola (!)

Once again, thank you to everyone reading - I know some of the pairings aren't everyones cup of tea, but these ones fit best with the story I had in mind, and plus I'm quite open to having vague mentions of other pairings floating in and out of the story, but Klaroline will absolutely be consistent. :)

And on another crazy note, someone (or some people) had a moment of insanity and decided to nominate me for the Klaroline awards on tumblr - THANK YOU, for I've never been nominated for anything, but I definitely encourage everyone to go check out the following stories in the same category as me:

This Is War - by To be loved is to be destroyed  
Deliver Us From Evil - by mytraitorousheart  
Duodecim Caede - by Gottabeelove

Absolutely amazing and stunning stories, just...urgh. Yes. Creativity. Go read them!

Lastly: I still have stuff in the works and in the crazy brain for a couple Sunligh spin off drabbles, and a special one planned for the KolxEva pairing that the Sunlight people warmed to so beautifully, so don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them :)

THANK YOU if you got through this super long note too!

Read and review if inclined, I absolutely love hearing from you all :)

x


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, this certainly isn't the morgue." Caroline commented as Damon carried Bonnie into his apartment. "Though I can imagine plenty of girl's dignities died here."

"Har de har." Damon said dryly, gently placing Bonnie on the couch. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Caroline asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"None of you can ever just sit back and enjoy the ride, can you? You always have to be in control." He sighed. "I'm phoning a friend."

"Well I hope they're more helpful than you." She scoffed.

"Its thanks to me that your friend is still alive." Damon hissed, effectively silencing Caroline before the person on the other end of the phone picked up. "Its me. Yep. Right now." He hung up without another word, and turned back to Bonnie, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"What. The hell. Is going on?" Caroline gritted out, wanting to slap Damon SalvaWhore's hand away from her best friend.

"Just give me a minute." He retorted. It wasn't even thirty seconds before a knock was heard at the door, and Damon opened it to reveal a dark haired woman.

"Why were you being so cryptic?" She asked him in an accusing voice as he ushered her in.

"Come in, close the door." He said quickly.

The woman hadn't taken three steps before she noticed Caroline and, more shockingly, Bonnie.

"Tell me that is not an unconscious girl."

"Okay. It's a kitten." Damon said sarcastically. "Its an adorable unconscious kitten."

"She fell from a two storey building and isn't showing signs of life." Caroline said with a grim face. "I'd say that we can skip unconscious and go to…lifeless…" She trailed off, fighting back tears. No. She wouldn't cry in front of Damon.

The woman turned to glare at Damon. "You could have told me that this was the move you were calling me over for. I could have helped earlier."

"I'm proud and stubborn, and oh look, you're already here!" Damon exclaimed, guiding her over to Bonnie's side. "Come on, all you have to do is be doctorly and help _now_. I'd do it myself, but I'm not trained."

"Okay, okay." She sighed, placing her bag down on the floor and crouching down next to Bonnie.

"Damon, you are going to tell me what's going on right now." Caroline demanded, and Damon exhaled.

"Fine. Bonnie is not dead."

"She had no pulse!" Caroline exclaimed.

Damon turned to the woman. "Meredith, meet Caroline. Caroline, Dr. Meredith Fell. You explain it to Blondie over here."

Caroline clenched her jaw shut and remembered to breathe, looking at Meredith for an explanation.

"There is a toxin derived from the plant _rhododendron ponticum _that lowers blood pressure." Meredith said as she took out a number of vials from her bag. "In historical times they called the paralysis it gave its victims 'mad honey disease'."

"I gave some to Bonnie before she went to confront Klaus." Damon added.

"So she's not dead…her pulse was just too weak to feel." Caroline summarized.

"Exactly." Damon nodded.

Meredith prepared an injection, and Caroline winced as she stuck it in Bonnie's arm.

"Then what are you doing now?" She asked.

"Giving her something to combat the toxin. It should revive her soon. She'll be feeling a bit ill, but I'm sure she'll be fine." Meredith soothed, blotting Bonnie's skin and cleaning the needle.

"Why did you have to pull that whole stunt then?" Caroline asked Damon.

"Klaus knows about you three. And he's going to do whatever it takes to stop you. So if we make him think he's winning…"

"His guard will be let down. Sure." Caroline sighed. "But did you really have to go for the theatrics?"

"I had to save Bonnie." Damon countered with heat in his eyes.

Meredith paused from where she was pressing her stethoscope to Bonnie's chest. "You're a good guy."

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm the bad guy." He muttered.

"You saved this girls life with your dramatics even after all you've been through, and you're doing a very good job at acting like it doesn't suck and its not getting to you." Meredith noted quietly with a faint smile. "Its nice to see that you're growing up."

"Only a little." Damon conceded, hiding his smile.

Meredith coiled up the stethoscope and shut her bag. "She's okay. She should be awake soon, but she'll feel fairly sick. Just let her rest. I'll be back to check on her in the morning."

"She'll be here." Damon nodded, seeing Meredith to the door.

Caroline was not as convinced. " What do you mean, 'She'll be here'?" She asked once the door was closed.

"Meaning Bonnie will be here at this apartment." Damon said slowly for her benefit. "Honestly, what is there not to understand in that sentence?"

"Bonnie is not staying here. She'll probably pick up some sort of disease." Caroline scoffed.

Damon scowled. "She's safer here. Klaus won't come looking for her here, meaning she can keep up this fake death for a while longer and do some digging."

"And there is no other motive to your plan." Caroline said skeptically. "No personal motives whatsoever."

He glared at her. "None at all."

She raised her eyebrow, but Bonnie's groan of pain grabbed their attention. They both moved over to where Bonnie had started to stir. She blinked and smiled at both of them, before frowning at Damon.

"The next time you have a crazy idea, you can be the one to fall out a window."

"I'll keep that in mind." Damon retorted, but Caroline could hear the relief in his voice.

"Klaus ran off." Bonnie muttered. "That bastard knows how to fall out of a building the right way."

"Forget about that," Caroline brushed off, her forehead creased with worry. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Care." Bonnie smiled, despite the pale undertone to her skin. "I think I'm going to throw up, but I'm fine."

"Alright," Damon said, carefully gathering Bonnie in his arms. "Up we go." He carried her slowly to the bathroom, and Caroline watched him curiously. He was really taking care of Bonnie, and he had no reason to. He had hired them for a job, nothing more. It had certainly never involved any of this. So why was he doing this? Was it out of kindness? Or another ploy?

…

Elena stared mutely into the fireplace at Stefan's apartment. He had offered to take her home, but she wanted to wait until he heard from Damon. And her home was filled with photos of the three Angels together…she couldn't just go home when Bonnie was everywhere.

"Hey," Stefan murmured gently, placing a mug of tea into her hands. "Here, drink this."

"I cant." She muttered blankly.

"Yeah, you can." He insisted. "Please drink this."

She took a sip to placate him, but made the mistake of blinking and allowing her unshed tears to race down her cheeks.

"This is my fault."

Stefan shook his head. "No, no. Hey. This was Klaus." He gently clasped her hand. "Listen to me. Klaus did this."

Elena looked at him searchingly, and he opened his mouth, but his cell phone started ringing. He checked the caller id, and answered it quickly.

"What did you do with her?" He snapped in a completely different voice, his entire body simmering with rage against his brother. "Don't talk to me like that." He continued against whatever Damon replied. "You knew about this plan. You knew what would happen to her."

"Let me hear." Elena said levelly, her soft voice halting Stefan's harsh words. He paused, taking the phone away from his ear and putting it on speaker phone.

"Please calm him down." Damon said snarkily, and Elena breathed deeply through her nose, rubbing Stefan's forearm comfortingly as his jaw clenched.

"Ready to listen to me?" Damon continued. "Good. Prepare for what I'm about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus knew someone was after him and he wouldn't let down his guard until he thought they were weak. He had to believe it. But she's alive. She's okay. Bonnie's okay."

Elena blinked slowly, unable to take it all in. Then a small smile broke across her face and she breathed. "Bonnie's okay."

"Yeah, I'm okay Elena." Bonnie's voice sounded, and Elena's eyes widened.

"Bonnie?"

" 'Lena, I'm so sorry. There wasn't enough time for me to tell you about the plan."

"Its okay, its okay." Elena rushed out. "I'm just so happy that you're alive." She half laughed.

"I'm just going to lie down." Bonnie said, her voice further away as if she were addressing Damon more than Elena and Stefan.

"Sure thing." Damon's voice sounded softly, and there was a rush of static as the phone changed hands. "So."

"You could have told me." Stefan ground out.

"How do I know when you're going to go blabbing things to your girlfriend?" Damon snapped back, and Stefan winced, his ears turning pink.

Elena read his embarrassment but it took her a while to register who Damon was referring….until…_oh. He means me._

"You understand what you put her through? What you put her and Caroline through?" Stefan continued to berate Damon.

"See, that's why I didn't tell you." Damon retorted. "Cause you would have never been able to do it. Don't get me wrong, Stefan, I don't mind being the bad guy. I'll make the decisions while you worry about collateral damage. I'll even let everyone hate me for it. But at the end of the day, I'll be the one to keep _her_ alive."

Elena frowned, wondering who Damon was talking about. It sounded like another reference to her, or to Bonnie, but Stefan's reaction wasn't the same as before…so it was a different _her_. Who?

"Besides, your reaction had to be real." Damon justified and Elena took control.

"I understand why you did what you did, Damon. Klaus was fooled, and Bonnie is still alive."

"Cheers to duplicity." Damon scoffed.

"But lets get one thing straight, Damon." Elena said slowly. "You are a client. We are the ones who make the plans. You can't meddle. We will not let that happen."

"The game has changed, Elena." Damon said. "We need to kill Klaus."

"That's Miss Gilbert to you, Mr Salvatore." She said coldly. "We'll find another way without killing him. I thought you wanted to solve this case that you are paying us for: finding Elijah Mikaelson."

"Games change." Damon said cryptically, before a muffled sound was heard on the other end of the line. "I'll call you back."

The line went dead, and Elena turned her narrowed eyes to Stefan.

"What does your brother want?" She asked.

"I don't know anymore." He answered honestly.

Elena ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know if my team can get mixed up in this, Stef – Mr Salvatore."

"We need your help." Stefan said.

"You'll have to find someone else." She admitted, standing up abruptly and making her own way to the front door. "I'm sorry."

"Elena – " Stefan called to her retreating back, but she didn't turn around.

…

Caroline closed the door to her apartment with a sigh, resting against the wall for a moment. It had been a long night. She took out the pins from her hair, placing them on the coffee table in the living room before unclasping the buckles on her shoes. She had just slipped one off when her phone started ringing.

_Caller Unknown_

Caroline frowned, before answering. "Hello?"

"Caroline," Despite the phone distortion, it was still easy to tell who had purred her name.

"Nik." She said coolly, taking off her other shoe. "You're a little late with your call."

"I felt my apology clearly didn't sit well with you, and wanted to make it up to you."

"How about no." She snapped, disregarding everything the Angels had planned around being nice and enticing their supposed kidnapper. He had just been responsible for Bonnie's death – or, well, near death. She didn't have to be nice to him at all. No matter how deliciously handsome he was or how suavely he spoke.

"Come on, sweetheart," He crooned, and she locked her knees to stop them from turning to jelly. "When can I see you again?"

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed. "I've seen you two times and we've argued both of those times."

"Its part of the charm." He chuckled, and she sighed, starting to unzip her dress. "Are you at home?"

She frowned at his odd question. "Why?"

"I can hear you getting unchanged."

She could imagine the smirk on his face, and tried to ignore the rush of excitement that ran through her in response to his desirous voice.

"And this is why I hate you."

"Well, 'love me or hate me, both are in my favor…if you love me, I'll always be in your heart…if you hate me, I'll always be in your mind'."

Caroline was lost for words for a moment. "I cannot believe you just quoted Shakespeare."

"There are many things you wouldn't believe about me, Caroline." Klaus said silkily, and it shook her out of her daze.

"I thought you were going to be out of town."

"Change of plans. The reason I needed to leave town…disappeared."

Her skin prickled at the knowing tone in his voice. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled. "No need to worry yourself, sweetheart. When can I see you?"

Caroline frowned. "Never." She said shortly, before promptly hanging up and changing into her sleepwear.

…

Stefan opened the door and blinked in surprise.

"Hey," Elena said quietly, still dressed in her 20s white dress like the angel she was.

"Would you like to come in?" He asked politely.

She moved forward, then paused. "Lets talk out here." She said, moving back towards the windows that looked out across Manhattan. Stefan followed her, watching Elena as she gazed at the sky, gathering her thoughts.

"Sorry for barging in, especially after earlier." She finally said.

Stefan shook his head. "No, I'm glad you're here. The way we left things…I didn't like it." He admitted.

Elena looked over at him and sighed. "So, the thing is, I got home tonight, planning on doing what I always do: write in my diary like I have been ever since my mom gave me one when I was ten." She smiled a little. "Its where I get everything out. Everything I'm feeling, it all goes into this little book tat I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid." She sighed. "But then I realized I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you."

"What would you write?" He asked, watching her.

Elena tilted her head. "I would write…'Dear diary'…today I convinced myself that its okay to give up. Don't take risks, stick with the status quo, no drama, now is just not the time." She met his gaze. "But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is…I'm scared."

"Of the case?" He asked, and she nodded once before pausing and shaking her head.

"Not just the case." She bit her lip. "I think you know what I'm talking about. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment, the world is just going to come crashing down…and I don't know if I can survive that."

Stefan nodded in understanding, finally catching on to what she wanted to tell him – she was scared of the relationship developing between them. For whatever it was, if it made her happy, her world would crumble in her eyes.

"Do you want to know what I would write?" He asked.

She nodded with a faint smile.

"I met a girl. We talked. It was epic." Stefan smiled at her. "And then the sun came up, and reality set in. It was easier to not attach myself, easier to believe that reality should only be in black and white, not color." He locked eyes with her, drawing closer. "Well, this is reality, right here."

Elena saw him draw nearer, and her rational business side told her to step away. But her heart said something else, and it had been so long since she had listened to her heart that she had stopped understanding the language of love that it spoke. So she took a chance, leaning forward slightly to meet his lips.

Color. That was the only way to describe it. Kissing Stefan was like seeing color after being in a black and white world, like her favorite movie when she was a child, _The Wizard of Oz. _She wasn't in Kansas anymore, she was in a world that was beyond her imagination because it was infinitely better than she had ever thought it would be. She never thought she could feel so much in one small, innocent kiss. But she knew there was no turning back now. Not for either of them.

…

Bonnie stretched, blinking against the early morning light. She frowned when she realized that her sheets were never this soft, nor was her bed ever this big. She sat up to look around the room and gasped when she saw Damon Salvatore leaning against the doorframe.

"Morning, sunshine." He smirked at her shocked reaction.

"Were you watching me sleep?" She half accused him, not wanting him to know just how alarmed she had been at seeing him.

"Only for the last…6 hours." He replied, exaggeratedly checking his watch. Bonnie glared at him in disgust, and he rolled his eyes. "You had some weird toxins in your system, I wanted to make sure you were okay. You know. So I didn't have to take care of a real dead body." Damon shrugged, trying to sound nonplussed about the whole thing.

It set Bonnie's teeth on edge, but at least it was better than assuming he was a complete creep…yet…

"Whats the time?" She asked.

"8:50." He replied.

"What?!" Bonnie exclaimed, swinging her legs to get out of the bed.

Damon was at her side in almost an instant, blocking her way. "You're not going anywhere."

She would have felt threatened if it weren't for the fact that she knew he meant no harm…and even if he did, she could have him pinned to the floor in under a minute with his hands behind his back.

"I am going to work, thank you." She snapped.

"Klaus thinks your dead." Damon said harshly. "You are not going to ruin that plan by going outside."

"I have a job to do." She said.

"Which, by the way, I am employing you to do." He reminded her.

"Still doesn't mean I'll be answering to you."

Damon tsked. "Bonnie Bennett, you are not being a very good advocate for Tatia's Agency right now." He smirked, before his grim expression came back into play. "Your teammates already were informed. You'll be able to work from here when you have the strength, but for now, you are going to recover."

"In your apartment?!"

He rolled his eyes. "What part of this entire plan are you not getting?"

She glared at him. "The part where you are insane."

"You aren't accustomed to talking to your clients, are you?" He smirked.

Bonnie set her jaw and ducked around him so quickly he barely noticed her movement.

"I am going to work, Mr Salvatore."

She hadn't taken more than four steps before her legs were swept out from under her and she was being carried back to the bed by the irritatingly handsome man.

"Let go of me!" Bonnie huffed, kicking her legs in an effort to make him lose his grip on her because, in all honestly, she didn't actually feel a need to punch him. Though she certainly wanted to at times.

Damon kept a decent hold on her despite her wriggling. He walked over to the bed and unceremoniously let her fall onto the mattress where she bounced slightly and glared murderously at him.

"Give me one good reason why it would be a good idea to prove to Klaus that you are still alive." Damon challenged.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't scream and tell everyone you're keeping me locked up here." Bonnie retorted.

"Don't do that." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Lets stay on point. You are going to stay here, nice and safe, and rest up for a bit. Then you can feel free to research, do whatever. But for now, you're staying here."

"Why not my own apartment?" She asked stubbornly.

"Who would ever expect you to be holed up at mine?" He said logically. "Besides, you want my help and you don't even know it."

"Really." Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "And why's that?"

"Because you've stumbled into something, albeit with my help, and you need to stumble out of it and solve this. And I'm clearly the way around that."

Bonnie frowned at him. "I'm perfectly capable of handling it by myself. So let me go, or I swear I'll – "

"Nope, no threats." Damon held up his hands in protest. "Look, I know you could easily kick my butt, but I wish you no harm. Believe it or not, Bonnie, I want to protect you." He locked his wide blue eyes on her own summer green ones. "Let me help you get Klaus off your back and into a prison cell."

She bit her lip, and sighed, tugging the covers back over her legs. "Fine."

He grinned. "Good. I have a meeting with Alaric, but I'll come back here after."

She looked at him curiously, and he paused.

"You know, in case you suddenly decide that you want Jello and you've forgotten how to make it."

"Sure." Bonnie nodded, watching Damon walk out of the room like nothing weird was happening between them.

…

Caroline got a call as she left her apartment to head over to the agency.

"Hello?"

"_Caroline Forbes?"_ A woman with a very nasal voice asked.

"Yes?" Caroline winced back.

"_There is a parcel for your collection at the post office._"

"Sure, I'll be right over. Thanks."

Caroline had set up a separate mail address for herself because of her job. It just seemed like a smart solution, especially when she rarely got mail. So a parcel was a very rare occurrence.

Once she got to the small building, she signed off and received the parcel – a large box with a white bow. Caroline looked at it curiously.

The nasal woman was her server, and Caroline was sadly the only person in the post office.

"It looks gorgeous." She drawled. "Did ya boyfriend send it to ya?"

Caroline rolled her eyes with a good natured smile at the woman while she opened the letter that was on top of the box.

_Please join the Mikaelsons Friday evening at seven o'clock for dancing, cocktails and celebration._

Caroline frowned in confusion, checking the other side to find another message in a neat scrawl:

_Save me a dance. Fondly, Nik._

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed, forgetting about the woman behind the desk.

"Uh oh. It's an unwanted admirer then, is it?" The woman clicked her fake nails. "Trust me, honey, they're better than no admirers at all."

Caroline was too busy analyzing the gift in her head. He'd said he was going out of town, why was he hosting a ball then?

"What's the gift then?" The woman prompted her, her hawk eyes almost burning a hole in the box.

Caroline carefully lifted the lid, fully expecting vipers or acid or a bomb, though it was doubtful that any of those would have been able to get through the security. She gasped at what she found instead.

Nestled inside the parcel was the most exquisite blue dress Caroline had ever seen. Clearly the nasal lady agreed.

"Oh my gawd, its beautiful!" She cried. "Oh, honey, marry this one. He may not be your type, but he's clearly got good taste."

Caroline reached out to touch the dress before stopping herself and slamming the lid back down on the box.

"Thanks." She said shortly to the woman, who stared at Caroline in surprise as she marched out of the post office with the box under her arm, looking like she was about to cause chaos.

"So." Caroline said the moment she walked into the office. "I've just received a game changer." She dumped the box on the coffee table, and Elena and Jenna frowned at it.

"_Someone care to explain?" _Tatia's voice sounded, and Caroline realized how late she had been made because of the delivery, since it was past nine.

"Morning, Tatia." She answered. "I just got an invite to a ball that Klaus is holding tomorrow night."

"A what?" Jenna exclaimed.

"Yup."

"That's just so weird." Elena frowned. "Klaus is throwing a ball. Like, an actual ball."

"He sent me a personal invitation. And a dress, too." Caroline huffed, glaring at Elena's expression when she opened the box. "Its some twisted Cinderella fetish. And why is he holding a ball? He's meant to be the suspicious bad guy."

"Well, throwing a ball certainly seems suspicious in this case." Jenna offered.

"There's only one way to find out." Elena set her jaw, and Caroline frowned.

"I thought the idea was to keep me away from Klaus."

"True. But you need to show up, we need to investigate, and I can be a good drama free bodyguard." Elena reasoned.

"I'd personally prefer Kevin Costner in a tux." Caroline referenced _The Bodyguard_. "Tatia?"

"_We need to scope Klaus Mikaelson out." _Tatia said. _"And now might be a good time if he's gloating like we think he is."_

Caroline blew a lock of hair irritably out of her face. "What time is this stupid dance?"

* * *

Hi guys!

Hope you're enjoying it so far :)

Sadly I think I might be going back to my 2 week update at this point in time...too much work and not enough time equals limited writing :( BUT please read and review and rave to anyone you'd like if you've had fun reading this so far! Positive feedback might persuade me to pull an all nighter and get another round of ideas out!

xx


	6. Chapter 6

Elena was the first Angel to arrive at the ball. It was easy enough to get past the security with a forged pass, courtesy of Caroline's personal invitation. She walked in, pleased with the gown she had managed to find at the Agency. The Angels had been to plenty of undercover galas, finding a good dress had been easy for her. She loved the dark glittery ball gown and how it billowed around her, making her feel as if she were from another era.

"What are you doing here?"

Elena turned to find Stefan standing before her, dressed in an exceptional tux. _Why do men always look so good in tuxedoes? _She groaned internally. After their kiss that night, she had awkwardly found a reason to leave and run home to hyperventilate about kissing a client. Stefan hadn't attempted to contact her, and she hadn't tried to see him. _At least I'm dressed to the nines._ Elena reasoned, smiling at Stefan before realizing it was odd to see him at the ball.

"I could ask you the same thing." She replied.

"Surprise surprise." Damon's voice sounded to her right, and she realized that both the Salvatores had some explaining to do.

"You're not supposed to be here. Either of you." Elena hissed quietly to both of them. "Klaus is going to get suspicious."

"Rather him be suspicious of us than figure out what you're up to." Damon shot back, before rolling his eyes. "Relax, everything's going to be peachy tonight." He offered her his elbow before Stefan could open his mouth. "Shall we?"

…

Caroline growled wordlessly as she dug through the closet at the Agency. She was going to be here for so long that the ball would be over before she even found a suitable dress. Well, not exactly. She _had_ a suitable dress, it was just the person who had sent it who was unsuitable. She rifled through a few more hangers before letting her eyes wander back over to the box that still sat innocently on the table.

"Damn you, Klaus." She muttered. "Damn you and damn your sexy ways and your good taste."

She still thought she looked pretty good in the dress. Okay, so she looked a bit better than pretty good. Okay, so she looked like a princess. A proper princess, not just your typical Disney Barbie creation. Why didn't she want to wear this in the first place?

Caroline was reminded of the reason why the second she walked into the room. Almost like out of a movie, the crowds parted just right and the host was just turning around as he made some horsey-looking woman snort a laugh that the woman probably thought was seductive…and all that didn't matter because Klaus was looking at Caroline and she was looking at him, and _damn, why did men always look good in a tux?_ But more specifically _why did Klaus look so unbelievably attractive. _And the look in his eyes burned her in a really wonderful, giddy way, two parts devotional, one part devouring, and he began to cross the room with that slow purposeful walk of his that was too graceful to even be humanly possible, and _ha_, Caroline thought pettily, _he completely left that woman standing there without another word, take that, lady, he's mine – no, nonono, he's not mine…_

And then she had to go and remember the mission. Damn.

And she had to recall that right when he'd finally reached her, and _urgh, when did he get so wonderfully tall?_ Being slightly above the average height herself, it just made it more appealing when men were taller.

"Good evening," He murmured, his English tones getting to her already, along with that smirk, and Caroline tried to stop her insides from melting.

"I need a drink." She sighed, stepping around him and hurrying off to give herself a pep talk. Or find Elena and make her give Caroline a good talking to.

She found her brunette friend talking to a very dashing young man.

"And here she is now." Elena smiled at Caroline, inviting her over and into the conversation.

"We haven't formally met." The man smiled, taking Caroline's gloved hand and bestowing a kiss upon it despite the fabric. "I'm Kol Mikaelson."

"Caroline." Caroline introduced herself with a smile, taking note of how Kol held her hand just a fraction longer than necessary before letting it go.

"I was just telling Kol about our friend who passed away recently." Elena said with an unhappy sigh.

"Why would you talk about that when we're meant to distract ourselves tonight?" Caroline frowned, mainly wondering why Elena thought it relevant to tell Kol.

"I was the one to ask." Kol explained. "I noticed you and the lovely Elena looking a little glum, and knew that my brother wouldn't want his guests anything but cheerful."

"Thank you for your consideration." Elena smiled.

"I wasn't aware that Niklaus had any siblings." Caroline said carefully, purposefully being ignorant of Elijah.

"He probably couldn't care less about his family." Kol rolled his eyes. "But he clearly remembers enough to invite me along to any of his grand gatherings, and that's enough for me."

Before Elena or Caroline could do any more digging, Damon chose that moment to walk up and begin a conversation.

"Damon Salvatore." He introduced himself to the three of them, directing it mainly towards Kol. "Have we met?"

Elena opened her mouth to respond, but Kol got there first.

"I've met a lot of people. And you don't particularly stand out." He smiled coldly at Damon before nodding to the two Angels. "Excuse me, ladies," Kol wove through the mingling guests, and Elena and Caroline turned to Damon with twin scowls in place.

"What. The. Hell." Caroline gritted out.

"Any reason why you are sabotaging the mission that you are paying us to do?" Elena asked him bluntly, all pleasantries aside. One of her co-workers was at his house unable to go outside because she was assumed dead due to his ingenious plan, so it was safe to say that they had all passed the point of impersonal service.

"You don't want to waste time on that brother." Damon scoffed. "He's got his own agenda. He usually doesn't like to plot with his big brother unless it benefits him."

"And you know this…how?" Elena frowned.

"Long unnecessary story." Damon brushed off, and both girls raised an eyebrow at him. "It wont change the fact that you still need to get to Klaus."

"Speak of the devil." Caroline muttered, glancing towards the marble staircase and nudging Elena. Klaus stood there, glass in hand, already commanding the attention of half of the room without saying a word.

"If everyone could gather," Klaus called, and silence reigned. "Welcome, and thank you for joining tonight." He smirked. "As my family tradition states, the evening will be commencing with a dance, so if all of you could find yourselves a partner, we'll get the night underway." He began walking down the steps as the guests began to pair off. Before Elena, Caroline, or Damon could move, Klaus had spotted her.

"Caroline." He said, and enough of the room was still paying attention to him that it was almost like he was publicly claiming her as his own. She bristled slightly, ignoring the small smug part of her that liked being the centre of attention.

"Would you do me the honor of being my partner for this dance?" Klaus asked as he walked across the room towards her.

Caroline couldn't exactly say no in front of all of his guests, and he had known and planned for that, she had no doubt. So rather than let off a string of curse words at him, she smiled sweetly.

"Of course." She accepted, offering her hand into his outstretched one. He pulled her in closer, escorting her to the ballroom with one hand warming the small of her back.

Elena watched her friend in the arms of the man they were meant to doubt, and yet she couldn't help but doubt the man who remained with her as well.

Damon seemed oblivious to her suspicion. "It would be rude not to dance, you know." He said to her, opening his palm in invitation.

Elena turned to face him with confusion, but accepted the fact that it would be easier to watch Caroline and Klaus from the dance floor. "It is tradition." She agreed, placing her hand in his. Even so, she still scanned the room for Stefan as they followed the guests towards the ballroom. He was nowhere to be found, much to her dismay.

"You look stunning, if it isn't obvious." Damon complimented her as they lined up for what appeared to be a waltz. He was sincere, and yet his gaze flickered across the room as if he was looking out for someone else too.

Elena still maintained her manners. "Thank you." She said when his eyes returned to her. They smiled politely at each other before beginning the waltz.

.

"I'm glad you came." Klaus said as they spun across the floor.

Caroline set her jaw. "Well, it was either caviar or sympathy casseroles." She said lightly.

"I heard about your friend." He said with sympathy, and she shot him an alarmed look. How did he know about her connection to Bonnie?

"I overheard you talking with my brother earlier." He explained. "And I offer my deepest apologies."

His words sent a bubble of rage blossoming in her chest, and she gritted her teeth. "Don't. Seriously."

Klaus appeared to take her outburst as grief rather than anger, and he nodded in acceptance. "Very well. Onto more mannered subjects then like how ravishing you look in that dress."

His words sizzled with lustful heat, and Caroline fought the blush that rose to her cheeks.

"I didn't really have time to shop." She brushed off.

He smirked. "I understand. This entire gathering was slightly short notice, but you refused to see me again."

"So you hosted a ball." She remarked dryly. "How very Gatsby of you."

Klaus chuckled. "Well, it did bring you here."

She had no retort for that. They spun across the floor for a moment in silence. Caroline tried desperately not to notice the subtle hues of his eyes that she could now see up close were not just blue or green or grey, but rings and shades of each. She tried not to notice how with each and every step his hands steadied her, sweeping her body closer to his almost as if he wanted to protect her. She tried above all to not notice how these small details fit in with everything else she knew and created emotions within herself that she was not ready to feel, let alone acknowledge.

Of course, she noticed all of these things. There was nothing she could do to ignore them.

"You know, you're quite the dancer." Klaus complimented. It drew her attention away from criticizing herself, and Caroline straightened her back proudly.

"Well. I've had training. I happen to be Miss Houston Texas."

"I know." He responded cryptically. She raised her eyebrows, and he rolled his eyes. "Oh, come now, sweetheart. You fascinate me, and yet you thought I wouldn't research you?"

Caroline's skin prickled. "Oh?"

"A web search of your name brings up a few hits with your high school achievements." He clarified, and she breathed a subtle sigh of relief.

.

Elena was spun out of Damon's arms and into a body that she was amazed to find she recognised purely by sense. She glanced up to confirm – yes, it was Stefan. Yes, her stomach did just flip. Yes, she needed to take a deep breath to calm her nerves.

He smiled carefully down at her, and they began to spin.

"He dances, and I didn't even have to beg." Elena quipped, and Stefan laughed, remembering the other two dances they had previously shared. "Well, I was going to ask you, but someone beat me to it. Couldn't exactly say no to the woman who eventually asked me."

Elena didn't know whether she should focus more on the fact that someone else had asked him to dance in the end, or that he was going to ask her to dance. Clearly things weren't as awkward between them as she had anticipated.

"Took you about thirty seconds to put Damon in a mood though." Stefan noted, and Elena looked across to where Damon was dancing with a blonde, his eyes wandering around the room as they had before. The man was on edge, and she couldn't figure out why.

"He's just trying to help us, I think." She replied.

"I think he needs to figure out that you can all look out for yourselves."

She looked up at him and smiled, appreciating the fact that at least one Salvatore trusted them to do their job without interfering. He caught her eye and shared that smile, and her emotions came flooding back into awareness. _Right. Need to change that._

"I need to talk to you." Elena murmured.

"Okay, so talk." Stefan replied, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Not here." She said quietly. "Probably not best said here."

"Is it about the case?" He asked softly, and she shook her head, her brunette curls brushing quickly across her bare back. "Then why not say it here?"

"I don't want things to end badly." She said, because it applied to both what she wanted to say and also answered his question.

He looked down at her curiously, and shook his head. "It wont."

"You can't know that for sure."

He sighed heavily. "If this is about the kiss the other night – "

"Then we should forget about it. I know." Elena nodded, glancing down and refusing to meet his gaze.

"I was actually going to suggest we go out for dinner." Stefan said levelly, and her eyes shot up to his face. He had a smile curling around the edge of his mouth. "Or is that a bad suggestion?"

"It's a bad suggestion." Elena said quickly, before sucking in a huge breath for the daring thing she was about to say next. "But I'd love to go out for dinner."

The two grinned goofily at each other before looking away and hiding their smiles.

.

Caroline had no idea how she did it but she managed to end up in Kol's arms once they swapped partners on the dance floor. Seriously, it was like her lucky week. She never wanted to see another Mikaelson again.

"Ah, if it isn't the lovely Caroline." Kol said with a grin. "I see my brother charmed you out to the dance floor."

"More like claimed me." She muttered before she could stop herself.

Luckily, it seemed to be the right thing to say to Kol, as he laughed.

"You'll have to forgive my brother. He can be quite rude at the best of times. He has a weakness for tasty little things." He smirked, not looking at Caroline.

She frowned all the same, not taking the 'tasty little things' line too well. "I'm stating to get the feeling that you and your brother don't get along."

"Longstanding family feud. Nothing to worry yourself over, darling." Kol said.

"Even so," Caroline fished. "I find myself wanting to get Nik back for…for before." She didn't elaborate, hoping that Kol would think it was for the very public claiming scene before the dance.

"And why mention this to me?" He asked.

"I was hoping you'd help me out." She said carefully.

"And spit right in the face of my brothers rules?" Kol said in almost shocked tones, and Caroline wondered if she had gone too far. But then he smiled mischievously. "I'm in."

"Any ideas?" She asked, mimicking his smile to further seal the deal.

"I'm torn. I could take you outside for a stroll, which would aggravate my brother enough, since his temper is shocking." Kol chuckled, twirling Caroline under their joined hands. "Or we could stage something on the stairs. Make a spectacle." He raised his eyebrows. "What do you say?"

"Outside." Caroline said quickly, not wanting an entire spectacle, just enough to lure Klaus outside and find a way to corner him. "We can talk then, anyway." She added with a sly smile.

He winked at her, before they slipped out of the room while they dance still continued.

.

Damon found what he was looking for when one of the guests came up to him wearing a dress he recognized.

"You couldn't even take one from the Agency, no, you had to use one from my apartment." He hissed.

The brunette woman glared at him with fiery green-hazel eyes. "It fit, though I have absolutely no idea why you have a _ball gown_ at your _apartment_." Her voice was darkly melodious, unmistakably belonging to…

"_Bonnie_." Damon growled warningly, taking her by the arm and leading her around the corner. "What are you doing here?"

"I wasn't about to let my friends walk alone into the lions den, now, was I?" She hissed, repeating his words from before. She had been lucky enough to get one of the Angel's latex masks and a wig to fully disguise herself, but clearly their client felt that it wasn't enough.

"Sucks to be them." Damon shot back. "They're big girls, they can take care of themselves. Was I not clear this morning when I told you to stay in bed?"

Bonnie flushed, thankful that the mask covered her true skin. She didn't need such a lustful reminder. "I'm not one of your call girls, Damon. You'd have to charge me at least fifty times more than what you are before I'd even consider that."

Damon glared at her, but there was a glimmer of something in his eyes that told her he wouldn't truly mind that scenario with her.

"Go home." He said slowly.

"No." She replied in the same tone. "Look, I'm sorry I had to cut you out of my plan."

"You shouldn't have a plan, you shouldn't be here." He grated out.

"Do you think I like going behind your back?" Bonnie burst out suddenly, cutting through all the nonsense with her honesty. "I don't. But I knew that if I didn't come, you'd still try to be the hero and ruin everything."

"Sorry for trying to help you all and keep you alive." Damon rolled his eyes. "I know Klaus better than you do."

"Then why didn't you tell us about it?" She hissed, effectively shutting him up. "Why didn't you tell us about the real business deals you were doing with him?"

He closed his eyes and frowned, sighing. "They weren't business deals."

"Then what were they?" She asked.

Damon opened his eyes to gaze into hers for a long moment before his eyes moved over her wrong skin color and wrong hair. "I'm not going to tell you here."

"Damon," Bonnie sighed. "My team needs to do their job. You need to – "

"Stay out of it, I know. I'm a liability, I'm a problem, I'm aware of the irony that my help is not helpful." Damon pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Now your mad at me for that?" She frowned.

"No, I'm mad because I _care_." He enounced each word clearly, and laced each with a mixture of frustration and weariness. Bonnie was taken aback by his blunt honesty, and realized that it probably mirrored her own. "But I'm not going to tell you about my past with Klaus while we're at his house." Damon added.

"Then where?" She asked impatiently.

He sighed, and looked at her, his composure coming back and a grin settling on his face like a second skin. He lightly tugged at a lock of her fake mousey brown hair. "Lets get out of here, Judgey."

.

Caroline barely had any time alone with Kol to question him properly before Klaus came storming out to find them.

"You went after Caroline, Kol?" Klaus called out to his brother and the blonde as they walked along the balcony towards the stairs down to the garden. "What is wrong with you?"

"Here we go." Kol sighed, partially to himself, partially to Caroline.

"Do you want a dagger in your heart." He snarled, stalking towards Kol in a very intimidating fashion. Caroline almost believed his warning, but didn't fear for her own safety. Klaus seemed fairly concentrated on his sibling.

"Again with the dagger threats," Kol rolled his eyes. "Don't you have any other tricks?"

"Clearly you wouldn't know." Klaus scoffed, attempting to calm himself as he realized Caroline was nearby. "Go back to staring at yourself." He advised Kol.

"What are you, my father?" Kol sneered. Klaus froze, and Caroline noted that Kol had attempted to hit a sore spot and had succeeded.

Klaus glared murderously at his brother. "No, Kol, but you're in my house."

"Then perhaps we should take this outside." Kol motioned towards the stairs, grinning at his brother in anticipation of a fight. He was clearly itching to hit something, it was the only reason why he would stoop to such behavior, even towards his family.

Klaus almost went for it, but thought the better of it. He turned towards where Caroline had been loitering moments before, and found nothing but air.

"Gone again, brother." Kol taunted. "Clearly you can't keep a hold on that one."

"Clearly you cant keep a hold on anything." Klaus retorted, inhaling deeply though his nose to calm himself. "If you're feeling particularly bored, there are a few Victoria's Secret models indoors that require a bit of entertaining."

Kol sighed. "The things I do for family, its really such a chore." He grinned at his brother. "Watch out for that blonde, she likes her questions."

"I know." Klaus smiled carefully at his sibling, before venturing forth into the garden. He knew where Caroline might be.

.

"You like horses." Klaus' voice sounded from behind her as she looked at the marble sculpture in the garden.

Caroline glanced sideways at him. "I'm not talking to you until you tell me why you invited me."

"I fancy you." He said honestly, and she stared at him. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed, half as an exhaled laugh, and he frowned.

"Why? You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light." Klaus listed off, bringing a bashful blush to Caroline's cheeks that she swore she was too mature to get anymore. "I enjoy you." He finished, with his trademark smirk.

"Well, I'm spoken for." She snapped, at a loss for anything else to say. In essence, it was true: she was spoken for by her work, which wouldn't have a generally accepting outlook on any relationship with a suspected criminal. Not that she was thinking it through as a possibility or anything she really, really, _really_ was interested in pursuing. Totally not.

"By that boy at my club?" Klaus asked with a scoff. "Looked like you two had ended things."

"Yeah, and then you came barging in." Caroline scowled, and he grinned.

"So you aren't spoken for, then."

Her frown deepened, and she turned away to stare at the sculpture of wild brumbies in front of her.

"You know, horses are the opposite of people." Klaus commented. "They're loyal."

Caroline glanced over at him, but he was lost in his own memories.

"My father was not of the same opinion as I was when I was a boy. After a particularly nasty spat, he sent my favorite horse to the glue factory, as a warning."

She was more than a little shocked, but hid it well. "Did you ever consider sitting down with your father and talking it out?"

Klaus seemed to realize what he had let slip, and blinked. "I'm afraid I didn't have a pleasant relationship with my father to begin with. It's a little complex."

"I can relate." She said grimly. "But at least by trying to talk things out with my father, I have no regrets."

He studied her, clearly at war with himself over the idea that he was the one who was always right while her truth was staring him in the face. She took advantage of his silence.

"And to answer your question, yes, I like horses." She gestured to the marble horses she stood in front of. "I also like people, and people actually like me, so I'll be inside."

She left him standing out in the middle of the quiet garden, and rejoined the guests with a deep breath.

.

Elena paused by the doorway as she heard a familiar voice inside. Kol was there, and was clearly having a quiet argument with whoever he was in the room with. She strained her ears to hear the hushed conversation.

"_You've changed…settling for scum is the first sign of weakness…"_

A higher female voice retorted to Kol's hiss, but Elena couldn't pick the words over the din of the crowd. Yet the voice was so familiar…

A door banged open, and Elena realized that the argument was over. She quickly ducked around the corner to avoid Kol as he stormed out into the party. The woman he had been fighting with went in the opposite direction, heading for the front door as if she didn't want Klaus to know she had attended. Elena got a glimpse of straight blonde hair and a green gown, but it was enough for her to make her assumptions. She frowned, promising to herself that she would check the Angels database as soon as possible.

.

"So…" Caroline dragged out the word. "You wanted to show me something?" In all honesty she had been surprised when he hadn't tried to lure her off to his bedroom with a line like that, _not that she would have complained much…shut up Caroline!_ so her curiosity got the better of her usual rude manner towards him.

"One of my passions." Klaus smirked, gesturing towards the painting they had stopped in front of.

She surveyed the sea of blues and greens with interest before she realized they matched his eyes and _damnit, why did she keep thinking of him like that?_

"Interesting." Caroline remarked coolly, trying to distance herself from her hormones. "I take it the curators of the Louvre don't realize you're stealing from them?"

"That's their mistake." He quipped back, and she half smiled. "Though I'm shocked that you'd think I'd have to resort to stealing rather than buying."

"You're right. That does make more sense."

"Good. Keep thinking that."

Caroline was shocked into laughter as Klaus had hoped she'd be, and they shared a smile. She looked away under the guise of studying the other artworks hanging in the gallery, and he followed slowly behind her. Caroline appreciated every painting in turn before her eyes landed on one plaque in particular.

"Wait a second…did you do these?"

Klaus looked to be a peculiar mix of pride and bashfulness. "Yeah. Actually, one of my landscapes is hanging at the Hermitage...not that anyone would notice."

Caroline nodded appreciatively, and he watched her.

"Have you been?"

"I've…never really been anywhere." She said slowly, and it was true. The one time she had gone outside of America was during a business trip with the Angels that had no time for tourism.

"I'll take you." Klaus offered so quickly that Caroline's first instinct was to scoff. "Wherever you want." He added, and yet she still was dubious. "Rome. Paris…Tokyo?" He tempted, and she laughed.

"Must be nice to just snap your fingers and get what you want." She remarked, the sourness returning to her voice as she remembered all the terrible things he must have done to get to the position of power he was in. "Is that why you have parties like this? To show people how great your life seems to be?"

"You're making assumptions." Klaus said warningly.

"Cause its been clear to me all along that you've been hiding something." Caroline continued daringly.

His eyes went cold. "Look. This has been a fun evening. But I think its time for you to leave."

She frowned up at him. "I get it. Your father didn't love you, so you assume no one else will either. And that's why you do what you do in the world, and show off your power, but that's not how to gain anything or anyone. You don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them." She hissed at him before turning on her heel.

…

Caroline ran into Elena in the hallway and nodded.

"Its time."

Elena smiled grimly. "Lets take Bonnie's revenge."

…

Klaus sat by the fireplace with a tumbler of scotch in his hand. When the door opened, he sighed through his nose before turning to see who it was.

"Whoever it is, it can wait until tomorrow."

"Aw, sorry honey." Caroline said sarcastically. "It's urgent."

She and Elena stood side by side in the open doorway, wearing their combat gear, their gowns discarded elsewhere.

"We've got a few questions for you, Klaus Mikaelson." Elena got straight to the point.

"I can save you some time by telling you that I don't know where my brother is." He smirked at their shocked expressions. "Oh, you thought you were being secretive? Very sweet of you, but it seems that you've forgotten one fact: I know everything."

"Do you know how many teeth you'll lose when I sock you in the jaw?" Caroline growled, and Elena caught her arm to prevent her from moving forward.

Klaus chuckled. "Are you just upset because you didn't know I was playing you from the start, sweetheart? I had to get information somehow." He shrugged.

Caroline fumed. "I say we take him in for questioning." She said heatedly to Elena.

"I don't think he knows where his brother is." Elena replied.

"You heard him, 'he knows everything'." Caroline argued. "And we owe it to Bonnie."

"That's right." Klaus drawled. "How is your little friend? Dead, I presume."

"Let me at him!" Caroline hissed as Elena kept a hold of her arm.

"No need, Caroline." He purred. "I'll go quietly, as they say. Especially if I get to be locked in a small room with you for hours." He smirked. "Oh, wait, that's right. I don't need anything from you, so I wont need to…what did you say so eloquently before? Connect with people?"

Caroline hid her emotions behind a grim face as she called a car around to collect them and take them to the agency.

Elena was the one to march Klaus out to the car, and he did go quietly with them as he promised, though with a slightly sour expression on his face. Clearly Caroline's words from before had got to him more than he let on, just as his words had reached her and impacted her greatly.

* * *

Hey guys!

Latest update, and I am totally not sleep deprived... :P

The next one will be next weekend I promise, and then I'll see where I am sanity wise then.

In the meantime, thanks for reading, review if you enjoyed (or if you didn't) and I'll see you all next week!

xx


	7. Chapter 7

"So that's the history we have with Klaus." Damon exhaled a long breath.

Bonnie sat back in her seat with wide eyes. "Wow."

"I know."

"While I understand why you couldn't tell us this in the first place," She frowned. "It would have been a little helpful to know what we were getting ourselves into. Is there anything else we should know about?"

Damon opened his mouth, blinked, and sighed, shaking his head. "No. There's nothing else you need to know about the case."

Bonnie squinted at him in suspicion, but before she could ask any further questions, her phone rang.

"Hey," She said once she recognized the number and accepted the call.

"_We've got Klaus."_

"You what?!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"_He's in our custody at the agency, but he's not answering questions. We might need your help to shock him."_

Bonnie frowned. "Hold on. I got a tip off that might be helpful to the case. Just let me go to his house and have a quick look around while he's detained."

"_Gotcha. Call when you get here."_

…

Elena ran a hand over her face before rejoining Caroline in the comfortable room they were keeping Klaus in. It was decorated similarly to the office, with the exception of bolted down table and chairs, no possible weapons, and a high window that was sealed shut.

"I'm going to ask you again, Klaus, where is your brother?" Caroline gritted, her nerves on their last edge.

"And I'm going to tell you again, sweetheart, I don't know." Klaus replied evenly. "Though I'm amused to say the least that you would handcuff me." He added with a smirk, stretching his hands where they were cuffed together and attached to a short metal chain on the table. He settled further in his comfortable chair as if to prove a point. "I wouldn't have picked you to be the kinky kind."

"Well I can tell you it's a relief that the ruse finished before you got the chance to find out for yourself." Caroline retorted. "Besides, I wouldn't trust you any more than I would trust a serial killer."

"I promise I'm not a serial killer." He rolled his eyes good-humoredly.

"How about a coffee, Care?" Elena suggested subtly, giving Caroline a good reason to leave Klaus' presence. The blonde left without another word, sparing a smile at her co-worker before the door closed behind her.

"Are you going to play Good Cop, then?" Klaus asked her pleasantly.

Elena turned back to him with a slightly sour face. "No. I'm going to play Blunt Cop. Do you know where Elijah is?"

He set a blank look on his face. "No."

"Then are you willing to assist us in finding him to lower your jail time?"

"What could you possibly have on me that would result in jail time?" He chuckled.

"Oh, believe me, we have enough evidence." Elena bluffed, knowing that at the very least Bonnie could find a parking ticket as she searched his house. Surely the guy would have a parking ticket. Really. "The Salvatores have already told us enough." She added.

It seemed to be enough to get through to Klaus, who faltered for a second before his cocky persona came back. "A bit ironic, you coming to me for help. Weren't you and your friends accusing me of kidnapping my brother only moments before?"

"You didn't put up the most trustworthy front." Elena replied smoothly.

"And how would you expect me to be able to assist you in any way?" Klaus asked.

"I'm sure something will come to mind." She said, standing up. "I'll give you some time to ponder."

"Much appreciated." Klaus said sarcastically as the door closed behind her.

Elena sighed, leaning against the wall and pulling out her phone.

_Where'd you disappear to? – S_

_**Work. And it isn't going well – E**_

"Is that Stefan?" Caroline's voice called her back to reality, and Elena looked up to find the blonde watching her with a small smile on her face.

"How'd you know?" Elena asked.

"You looked happy." Caroline admitted, her smile widening and Elena's bashful look. "How are things?"

"He's asked me out to dinner. I figure nothing could go wrong." Elena looked so excited, like a school girl with her first crush, a teenager on their first date. Caroline wondered if she should tell her about what she found, but decided that it wasn't necessary.

"When?"

"We haven't set a time."

"How about now?" Caroline suggested.

Elena was shocked…and hopeful. "But Klaus – "

" – will be perfectly safe and stable here. Bonnie will be back from her scavenger hunt soon. And you deserve a little break. You look like you could have a good dinner." Caroline teased, and Elena let a smile spread on her face again. "Go."

"Thanks, Care."

…

Bonnie walked through the very nearly abandoned house, save for a few lingering (drunk) guests left over from Klaus' party. She had kept her disguise on, in the very unlikely event that someone would recognize her. Besides, they might be able to use that to their advantage in other ways later. She knew there would be some sort of condemning evidence somewhere…she just had absolutely no idea where to find it. But she was going to search until she found it.

She turned down the hall and nearly froze as she saw someone walking towards her from the other end. She attempted to keep walking at a normal pace as she passed by the elegantly suited man, sparing a glance to check –_ wow, okay, stud alert. _

The man smiled at her as they passed, and she shyly returned it before turning the corner. She paused, frowning, before realizing where she had seen that dangerous smirk before…on the lips of a sibling. Klaus and Elijah's brother. So she would have to watch out for him…and for more reasons than one. _Were their parents supermodels or something?_

Bonnie eventually came across Klaus' study…or at least she assumed that was what the room with rows and rows of books lining the walls and a smooth wooden desk taking up the centre of the floor. She scoured through the shelves, and came up with nothing. She then went through the desk, finding only spare blank paper and paperweights…and another jar of hand cream. Bonnie frowned. What was it with these rich men and women who kept hand cream in their offices? Or perhaps it was the same woman? She replaced the jar carefully and triple checked the room, finding…nothing. In all honesty, after everything the Angels had been through and what Damon had told her, she wasn't surprised that she didn't find what she was looking for immediately. The man seemed quite thorough.

She grimaced. She was going to have to go through his bedroom, clearly.

…

"Would you stop with the noise?!" Caroline exclaimed through the door, not daring to look in and check on their dear suspect. She was in a mood to rip him to shreds and drink his blood, and she couldn't let her anger get the better of her, especially when it was so closely related to her feelings about kissing the smirk off his face…_Caroline Forbes, if you really are that horny, make a booty call to Tyler._

Klaus kept up his cheerful whistling, prompting Caroline to unlock the door and storm up to where he sat, feet propped up against the table.

"What do you want?" She gritted out.

"Oh, you know, I'd appreciate being let out of this cell – "

"Its not a cell. It's a holding room."

" – but either way I'll settle for your pleasant company." Klaus finished answering her question.

She narrowed her eyes. "You have been whistling non-stop for the last thirty minutes, and all because you were bored?!"

He shrugged, a cocky smile on his absurdly handsome face.

"Don't you have other things to do?" Caroline frowned. "Surely your evil villain-to-do list isn't 'Get captured', 'Get interrogated', 'Annoy the hell out of Caroline'…'Pick up dry cleaning'?"

"Not to nit-pick, but evil villains usually use minions to pick up their dry cleaning, that sort of thing." Klaus bantered, and Caroline rolled her eyes, but sat down. He had a terrible way of convincing her to concede to his wants purely from the relentless effort he put into pursuing them. But her morals would not budge for a second, she decided.

"So sorry, I forgot that the bad guy is also the lazy guy."

"Oh, don't be that way, sweetheart." He sighed. "Being bad is a hobby of mine, so long as it doesn't get me into trouble."

"Gee, I wonder where you went wrong then." She said sarcastically.

"You've never wondered about the rush you got as a teenager sneaking into a house?" Klaus asked innocently.

"Never did that." Caroline countered.

"Your first underage drink?"

"Chief of Police's daughter."

"How about indecent acts in public?" His smile told her that he didn't just mean public drunkenness or jaywalking. She was momentarily distracted by the way the tip of his tongue ran across his bottom lip, but she blinked and the moment was gone.

"Is this meant to be your way of luring me into evil? 'Join the dark side' and all that?"

"That depends, Caroline. Is it working?"

She stared him down. "Never. I like it here on the right side."

He sighed almost pityingly. "Don't underestimate the allure of darkness. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it." His gaze slipped right past all her defenses until she felt he could see the pure heart he spoke of. She crossed her arms stubbornly, almost as if she could shield the wildly beating muscle in question.

"What, cause you know of so many people who have been drawn to your darkness?" She scoffed, trying to ignore the spark between them. "Its not true. There is no allure to darkness."

Klaus lowered his feet back down to the ground and leaned forward to rest his forearms against the table. His gaze had been heated before, but now his eyes burned through her. "Really? So you've never felt the attraction that comes when someone who you believe is capable of doing terrible things for some reason seems to only care about you?"

Her breath caught in her throat, and her lips parted, her body betraying what she truly wanted to do – lean across the table between them and catch his arrogant, luscious mouth with hers. But she kept her wits about her, grounding herself with the harsh reality of the fact that everything he had done to woo her was just a ruse.

"I did once, when I thought he was worth it. But it turns out that some people are just full of shit. And some people who do terrible things and lie are just terrible people."

Her words aimed to wound, and they seemed to hit their mark. Caroline saw a flash of some sort of tangled emotion pass across his face. Guilt, pain, remorse…before settling back into its stone-faced façade.

"You're hurt because I had to involve you in my plans. You needn't be. You're what's known as collateral damage, its nothing personal."

Caroline narrowed her eyes, allowing her expression to speak for itself. _Bullshit_.

Klaus leaned back in his chair again, studying her face. They sat in silence for a long moment before Caroline realized that she didn't even want to be there anymore. Okay, that was a lie. She wanted to be there with him because he was a fascinating enigma, but she wasn't prepared to risk being hurt in the process.

She got up to leave, and his hand latched onto her wrist. Caroline looked up at him with a frown that also attempted to mask her curiosity at his reaction.

"Let go."

"No."

Her frown deepened, and she was just about to twist his arm and force him to let go of her wrist when he sighed and gritted his teeth.

"Don't go. Please."

"Why, are you afraid to be alone or somethi-" Caroline stopped midsentence when she realized that yes, of course he was afraid to be alone. Wasn't that the very reason why he did everything? And couldn't she relate to that?

Klaus watched her with impossibly pure eyes that were a kaleidoscope of blue and green and grey. She bit her lip and sat down, acting as if it had been her idea all along. He didn't let go of her wrist, and she looked at it pointedly.

"Seriously. What do you want from me?"

"I want to charm you for long enough until you decide to uncuff me." Klaus said with a deadpan expression. "After that, who knows?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow, and he chuckled, letting go of her wrist with a smooth stroke of his fingers that left an electric storm under her skin.

"What else do you think, sweetheart? Its around one in the morning by my calculation, and I am bored out of my brain."

"Shame that statement isn't true." She scoffed. "If you were literally bored out of your brain, I wouldn't have to listen to your talk."

"In case you haven't noticed, the handcuffs are on me, not you." Klaus pointed out. "You can ignore my chatter if you choose."

"I can't ignore your whistling though." She grumbled.

He grinned. "No, you can't, can you."

She scowled at him, and he tilted his head.

"While that is quite a fetching look on you, Caroline, you do look better when you smile."

Her scowl deepened just to spite him. "I only smile for people who gain my trust through honesty."

He sighed. "Ah, clearly that's going to be a sore spot with you. I apologized – "

"Actually, no, you didn't." Caroline pointed out. "You called me collateral damage, but I didn't hear a single 'I'm sorry'."

It was his turn to frown at her. "I don't waste time on such words."

"And I don't waste time on you." She countered, standing up and walking out of his reach before he could latch onto her again.

"I'm sorry." He called after her retreating back as she reached the door. She looked back over her shoulder.

"Pardon, what was that?"

Klaus gritted his teeth and glared at her for a moment before closing his eyes. "My sincerest apologies, Caroline, for causing you grief."

"And?" She prompted, taking a step back towards the table and chairs.

He opened his eyes and locked them onto hers, the troubled green hues clashing with the soft, soothing blues. "And I regret the hurt that I caused you."

She studied him, and decided that he was being sincere – or at least as sincere as Klaus Mikaelson would ever get. With a nod, she stepped closer and sat back down in the chair.

…

Stefan met Elena outside the late night diner, still dressed in his tux from earlier in the night at Klaus'. She herself was still in the Angel's combat gear – cargo pants, black boots and a black t-shirt. Together, they looked like two completely different ends of the spectrum, and yet when they smiled at each other, it was clear that they were perfect together.

"I take it you got Klaus?" He asked as they ate.

"What gave it away?" She asked.

"Kol took charge of the party." Stefan rolled his eyes. "Safe to say that it got a bit out of control from there. Klaus isn't going to be happy."

"Yeah, well he'll only know if he gets released from our custody." Elena shrugged, taking a sip of her milkshake. "But the way its going, I don't think he's going to give up Elijah's location. I'm starting to think he really doesn't know."

"Its Klaus, of course he knows." He countered.

Elena tilted her head. "How do you know him anyway? It can't just be from the business deal you were going to do with Elijah."

Stefan's attention dropped down to his fries. "It's a time in my life that I don't particularly like to reflect on. All that matters is that I'm not associated with him in any way, shape or form now."

She nodded and smiled softly at him when he raised his eyes to meet hers again. "I understand."

…

Bonnie was rifling through the drawer by Klaus' bed, which was fairly empty aside from miscellaneous pieces…necklaces with leather bands, something that looked like an ornate letter opener that she suspected was really a dagger – but again, it wasn't technically illegal to own a knife – and pages and pages of sketches, drawings, and the like. She briefly glanced through them, nothing particularly jumping out at her…until she thought she recognized a figure in one of the sketches. She narrowed her eyes, flipping through more of the loose parchment sheets until she came across another one. Yep. Their mark had a few sketches of Caroline. He clearly felt some sort of attraction for her. Perhaps they could use that to their advantage even more than they had been before.

Bonnie placed the items back in the drawer, standing up to look elsewhere. If she was suspicious of others, where would she hide something? Especially after what Damon had told her?

She grinned. Time to check the kitchens.

Bonnie quietly walked down the grand staircase again, listening for the party guests. She heard nothing, which set her slightly on edge, _but maybe everyone went home?_ She bit her lip, hopeful as she made her way to where she had seen the kitchen earlier. Finding no one there, she started to look through the cupboards with earnest, eager to get out of the mansion-like apartment.

"Hello, darling." A British voice sounded behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin before remembering to breathe and turn around. The younger brother stood only two feet away from where she had been glancing into a cabinet, a curious look on his face as he studied her.

"Oh. Hi." Bonnie said shortly as her brain raced to find a reason for what she was doing.

"Want to tell me what you are doing poking around in my kitchen?" Kol grinned slightly, almost as if he knew exactly what she was up to.

"This is your kitchen?" Bonnie asked, buying time.

He sighed. "Its my brothers, you already know that. Why else would you be here in the first place if not for my brothers gathering?"

"Then you need to tell him to take better care of his guests." She countered. "I'm thirsty."

"So you logically thought that spoons would be an excellent drink of choice." Kol raised his eyebrows, and Bonnie bit her lip with a slight eye roll, hoping she could charm her way out of there before he realized that her heart was beating so hard it was about to burst out of her chest.

"Can you help me?" She asked, and he smirked at her, sweeping an embellished bow.

"It would be my absolute pleasure."

Bonnie held back a scoff at how he said 'pleasure' like a professional trained flirt. Instead, she stepped aside to allow Kol to find his way around the kitchen.

"What were you after, darling?"

"Tea?" She asked hopefully.

"Well, you were on track with the spoons then." He chuckled, and she laughed, trying not to sound too nervous. She helped him around the kitchen, finding mugs while he prepared the kettle.

"Sugar?" Bonnie asked, and Kol pointed her towards the large pantry. She walked in, frowning at the two jars labeled 'Sugar'.

"The one on the left." Kol called after her, and she reached towards the one on the right, opening the lid to find…

"Here, let me help you." Kol rushed in after her, only to almost bump into her exiting the pantry, holding the jar labeled 'Sugar'. He frowned slightly at her, lifting the lid…innocent white sugar granules sparkled back up at him.

"It's the left one, like you said." Bonnie nodded, a slight frown marring her brow as Kol studied her face until he seemed content, turning back to the mugs after a small wink.

…

Elena still had a smile on her face as she walked into the agency. Stefan was such a gentleman…and he was interesting and had kept her interest, which was rare for a man to do. He had already asked to see her again, and had left her with a goodbye kiss that she could still feel on her lips, and she swore she was floating. She hadn't felt this giddy, this much like…like a teenager again…in such a long time.

Elena nearly bumped into Caroline who was walking down the hall. She was confused for a moment, noticing something different…until she realized that it was the fact that Caroline was wearing almost the exact same expression as Elena was.

"Care?"

"Mmm?" The blonde blinked at her, before seeming to shake herself. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"I'm…interesting." Caroline said slowly, before distracting her friend. "How'd it go?"

"Absolutely wonderfully." Elena beamed. "Thank you so much. I really needed that. I hope Klaus wasn't too much trouble."

"Not _too_ much." Caroline muttered, allowing Elena to continue.

"Stefan's perfect, Care. Perfectly perfect."

Caroline bit her lip. "Listen, E…"

"Care, 'Lena!" Bonnie's voice cut over Caroline's dragging words, and the pair turned to see their friend striding confidently down the corridor towards them. "I got it."

"You got what?" Caroline frowned.

"Everything. More evidence, more ammunition, everything." Bonnie grinned.

"What exactly?" Elena fished for more.

Bonnie turned to her, the triumph in her eyes fading slightly. "Elena, you and Stefan…"

"I'll tell you the details of our date later, Bon, what did you find?" Elena urged.

Bonnie sighed. "That's exactly it, E. I found out about something to do with Stefan and his connection to Klaus. His connection to Damon and Klaus, really."

Caroline froze. "Hold up. Klaus has something to do with all that?"

"Yeah," Bonnie frowned. "But hold up, what do you know?"

"I saw." Caroline confessed. "In his office."

"Well that's more proof then." Bonnie grimaced.

Elena looked as though she was about to throttle her two friends for information. "What. Did. You. Find."

"Stefan is addicted to cocaine." Bonnie said, honestly and directly.

Elena looked as though the air had just got knocked out of her lungs. "What?"

"Its true, E." Caroline added gently. "I found his stash at the office."

"And I found where Klaus was keeping it at his house after Damon told me that he had supplied it to them." Bonnie clarified.

Elena shook her head. "No. Its not true. It can't be."

"It is, Elena." Bonnie said.

"But its okay." Caroline soothed. "He's still human."

Elena paced back and forth for a moment, running a hand through her long hair. "I need to go see him."

"Then go now." Bonnie urged. Caroline raised a brow at Bonnie, but she only nodded, so the blonde nodded her own consent as well.

"Thank you, you two." Elena sighed, enveloping them both in a group hug. They squeezed her tightly before she let go and half-ran out the door.

"Should we let her go?" Caroline asked Bonnie.

"She needs to tell him that she knows eventually." Bonnie rationalized. "Besides, I actually can see them still dating after this. She'll save him without trying."

"Lets not talk about anyone being anyone's savior tonight." Caroline grimaced, thinking of herself and Klaus – light and dark. "Lets just go shock Klaus' system with your presence until he spills about his brothers whereabouts."

…

Elena drove over to Stefan's apartment, tears blurring her vision. She couldn't possibly believe what Caroline had told her, but she needed to hear it for herself.

Stefan could tell that Elena wasn't there for a pleasant chat the moment he opened the door to her grim expression.

"What are you?" She asked, half in disbelief. He remained silent, and she gritted out the question again. "What. Are. You."

Stefan frowned. "You know."

"No, I don't." Elena shook her head, wanting to hear it from his lips rather than her own again.

"Yes you do." He sighed. "Or you wouldn't be here."

Tears started to well in Elena's eyes again. "Its not possible. It can't be."

"Everything you know about me could change now if I say it. Are you ready for that?" Stefan asked her, not wanting to pop the pretty little soap bubble they had created in their simple relationship. Life was complicated enough as it was without this added fact.

Elena needed to know. She couldn't continue on in the dark. "What are you? I need you to admit it yourself."

Stefan paused, then inhaled a deep breath. "I'm a vampire. I'm worse than a vampire. I'm an addict, Elena."

Hearing the words from his own lips was more than she could bear. She ran a shaky hand through her long dark hair. "I shouldn't have come."

"No, please." Stefan rushed out in a long exhalation. "Just stay." He reached out to hold her arm gently, carefully. Even that cautious touch was enough to make Elena back away.

"Let me go."

"Please don't be afraid of me." He begged her, even as he let her slip away from his touch. "There are things you need to understand."

"I'm sorry, Stefan." Elena said, turning and reaching for the door that would lead to the elevators. Stefan's hand shot out and closed it before she could swing it fully open.

"I would never hurt you. You're safe with me." He assured softly to the back of her head.

"That's not what I'm worried about." She admitted, turning to face him with tears in her eyes. "I can take care of myself, you know that. I'm not some poor defenseless girl anymore. But you rely on something so dangerous."

"I don't need it to survive. I'm careful, and I only indulge in a certain type. And its for a good reason." Stefan explained, the words rushing as Elena's face became dubious. "Damon helped me."

"Damon?"

"It was for my depression." He admitted quietly. "I promise to never keep anything from you, I'll explain everything to you, but I beg you, Elena, do not tell anybody."

"How can you ask me that, when you know that I would never betray your confidence?" She asked, softening slightly.

"Because knowing this is dangerous for me. Its letting someone close enough to be able to hurt me again." Stefan raised his eyes to meet hers again. "You can hate me, but I need you to trust me."

"I know you mean me no harm." Elena took a chance, raising her hands to cup his face carefully. He closed his eyes at her soft touch.

"I never wanted to be like this." Stefan whispered.

"I know." She whispered back. "But I'm staying."

* * *

Heyo!

Another big fat chunk of writing for you to (hopefully) enjoy! More to come as Klaroline starts to take more of a front seat in the story :D Oh, and before you ask, yes, Damon wrapping up his little story at the start was meant to be my way of keeping you in the dark with the boys whole history with Klaus. It's sorta cleared up with Stefan's confession, but it'll be fully revealed shortly :)

Thanks for reading, please review if inclined, and I'll see you in a weeks time! :)

xx

EDIT: 6th - Super super sorry for promising what I couldn't deliver! :( A mega essay took the better of me, but I'll definitely have this story updated next weekend! :D xx


	8. Chapter 8

"You must be Niklaus Mikaelson." Bonnie said as she opened the door, grinning at the momentary look of utter shock that crossed Klaus' face before he masked his emotions.

"You were dead. I saw you."

"You saw me fall. But thanks for staying around to see if I was alive." Bonnie smirked, walking into the room with confidence. Caroline followed behind, sitting down while Bonnie preferred to stand before Klaus with her arms crossed; casual but in control.

"Ah. Well then, I'm supposing that I'm now simply meant to be so confused that I'll tell you everything I know?" Klaus shot back cockily.

Bonnie tilted her head with a careful smile. "Not quite. But I'm sure we know enough about you by now."

"Caroline knows plenty." Klaus deadpanned, and Caroline fought back the angry outburst that was threatening to claw its way out of her chest.

"Then what does she know?" Bonnie asked, playing along. Under the table, unseen by Klaus, Caroline stepped heavily and purposefully on Bonnie's foot.

"Only about my undying desire." Klaus drawled, letting his head tilt enough to send a lazy grin in Caroline's direction. She made a good, if silent, show of rolling her eyes and shrugging it off.

"Would that be for your undying desire for her, or for cocaine?" Bonnie arched a brow, and slipped through Klaus' last layer of defensive armor.

"What did you say?" He asked quietly, his eyes not leaving the dark haired woman now.

"I said cocaine, but I'm sure you heard me." Bonnie said as casually as possible. "In fact, I'd hazard a guess that you are quite well acquainted with cocaine. You're dealing it pure to high buyers after all, oh, but correct me if I'm wrong." She allowed, waving her hand as if to clear the way for his words.

Klaus said nothing, just remained very still, like a predator watching its prey. But the two Angels were not about to lose their confidence. Not when they had everything to gain.

"Your club is not purely just a club, isn't it? Its also a front for your own personal dealing. The night that we fought, Damon was pretending to set me up to buy some of your goods." Bonnie smiled. "A drug dealing businessman. I'm sure the papers would love to get a hold of that, not to mention the police. And really? Keeping it in the sugar jar? Isn't that more than a little cliché?"

"Clearly someone's been snooping. Breaking and entering." Klaus tutted. "Shameful behavior from people who abide by the rules." His gaze fell on Caroline, reminding her of their previous conversation about rule breaking and reckless trouble.

"We were invited into the building." Bonnie countered. "No one could even accuse us of breaking and entering. Especially when drugs were found on the premises."

"I'm sure you'd be keen to know that your little friend Stefan Salvatore has been relying on my generous supply for a while now." Klaus said starkly.

"We've known that Stefan was involved for a while now, don't even bother." Caroline shot back.

"Of course. And what about your little friend Jeremy?" Klaus asked, watching Bonnie's jaw tighten. "You didn't think to wonder why I was attending the Red Cross event in the first place? Or the odds of a young artist such as Jeremy being present as well? I've supported his rise in the arts world. Its easy with drug-addicted artists like that." Klaus smirked, knowing he was hitting a tender spot.

"Then its lucky we caught you when we did." Caroline jumped in for Bonnie's benefit. "He can actually reach great heights now that he's disconnected from a bad influence like yourself."

"Me? A bad influence?" Klaus widened his eyes innocently. "I'm not the one holding someone captive."

"Lets not get into logistics." Bonnie finally found her voice again, and it was cold. "We could be here all day listing the dirt we've uncovered on you."

Klaus inhaled slowly and exhaled the breath just as leisurely. "What do you want." He said, not even attempting to intone the words as a question.

"Where is Elijah Mikaelson." Bonnie said with just as much demand.

Klaus chuckled, much to the irritation of the two women. "Honestly, you do not give up." He looked at both of them in turn with a barely concealed grin. "I don't know where he is. I'm trying to find him just as much as you."

"You failed to mention that before." Caroline noted with a frown.

"Why would I impart such knowledge to people holding me captive?" Klaus asked in a drawl that made Caroline want to reach across the desk and throttle him.

"Then why tell us now?" Bonnie asked, keeping Caroline's mind on track.

"You've discovered this much about me, it might be useful for me to be on your side." Klaus shrugged. "I want to find my brother, and so do you."

Caroline watched him through narrowed eyes, but played along for the time being. "Then surely you have some suspicions of who might have taken him."

"I was making the rounds in my sibling circle." Klaus explained. "I'm not the only black sheep in the family as you might find. I was hoping that my little brother Kol might have some knowledge on the subject, but you managed to drag me away from my own party before I had a chance to ask him."

"Alright, then, we'll bring him here for questioning." Bonnie nodded.

Klaus chuckled. "No, you won't, for a few reasons. Kol is sly, he would respond to questioning even worse than I have. You'd also have trouble catching him. And finally, and most importantly, you aren't going to involve him." His voice became cold. "I will handle this aspect. I'll be in contact when I do find Elijah, but you do not need to concern yourselves with this or any other part of the case. Your involvement is done."

"I think you'll find that we dictate when our case is done, not you." Caroline said just as icily, staring Klaus down across the table. He met her gaze with a challenge of his own in his eyes, and Bonnie sat there awkwardly as sexual tension crackled in the air between Klaus and Caroline.

Before any more could eventuate, a buzzer went off on Caroline's phone, and she frowned. Bonnie knew what that meant. They were legally bound to let Klaus go now – he had no specific charges laid against him yet and while they could easily do so, it would take up time that they needed to find Elijah. Bonnie hopped up and released the handcuffs from their short chain on the table, leading Klaus out of the room by the metal links on his wrists.

"We're letting you go for the time being, but just remember how much information we have on you." She warned. "We expect you to be in touch about your brother, and if you happen to vanish, we'll pursue you with charges. Remember the deal."

"Much as I relish the idea of you all pursuing me," Klaus drawled with a smirk. "I'll be in touch when I find Elijah. So long as you leave the case in my hands."

Caroline remained in the room as Bonnie escorted Klaus from the building. The moment Bonnie re-entered the room, however, she was met with an onslaught from the blonde.

"We aren't seriously going to leave the case in that idiots hands, are we? I wouldn't trust him to truthfully tell me what color the sky is, let alone actually find someone we were hired to find."

"Of course we're not going to trust him." Bonnie assured Caroline. "We're going to be crafty about this."

"You mean we're going to find Kol." Caroline nodded. "Klaus will be expecting that."

"Well he won't expect what I have planned." Bonnie sighed. "Okay**. **Time for Plan B3: Bonnie, the Brawn, and the Blonde."

Caroline nodded, until she realized what the new plan would require. "Nu-uh. No way, I thought we agreed, no more – "

…

"Blonde Distraction has entered the building." Caroline muttered crossly. She strode into the Grill confidently, walking up to the bar for a much needed drink. The Grill was as busy as ever, swarming with locals out for a good time. She made her way up to the bar, breezing past two familiar figures until one called out to her.

"Caroline!"

She paused and turned to see Klaus and his annoying brother Kol from the night before.

"Oh, its you." She frowned, crossing her arms.

"Join us for a drink?" Klaus asked as Kol wordlessly raised his glass.

Caroline scowled at both of them. "I'd rather die of thirst, but thanks." She staked out of the bar, fully intending on finding another watering hole to drown herself in booze.

Klaus clearly wouldn't let her go that easily.

"Caroline!" He hurried after her, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a car in the process.

"Go away, Klaus." She called back over her shoulder.

"Come on, love, we had a little spat. I'm over it already."

Caroline scoffed. "Well, I'm not." _A little spat?_ There had been so much drama that had unfolded within the last five hours, let alone any other time they had talked. All of that was _so_ not something that could be summarized as 'a little spat'.

"How can I acquit myself?" Klaus asked, finally prompting her to turn around and face him.

"Leave me alone. You got what you wanted."

His face fell, and it confused her. He couldn't…surely he couldn't possibly…_care_ for her?

"I don't believe I got what I wanted." Klaus admitted, before his wall came back up and he began charming her once more. "Come on, talk to me." He sat down on a nearby park bench. She raised an eyebrow.

"Get to know me." He prompted as she remained standing before him. "I dare you." He tempted, knowing that would tip her over the edge.

She gritted her teeth before sighing. "Fine." She sat down on the bench next to him and met his intent gaze. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about you." Klaus murmured, and she rolled her eyes.

"Right, so you didn't get enough information before."

"Not that." He frowned, waving his hand to show the insignificance of past events. "No. Your hopes, your dreams. Everything you want in life. I want to talk about _you_." He stressed, showing his interest in the real her.

It was appealing in every sense, and Caroline had to fight against the part of her that swooned. "Just to be clear, I'm too smart to be seduced by you." She smiled coldly.

He grinned. "That's why I like you."

…

Bonnie had walked straight into the bar only to turn around and confront the man who followed her in.

"I told you not to tail me, Damon."

Damon grinned at her. "Why? Don't I feel good behind you?"

She gritted her teeth and breathed through her nose to refrain from slapping him. _Though he could use a good beating…_

"I need to do my job."

"And I'm sure Elena can do it just as well."

"Elena wasn't available."

"Meaning that she is off schmoozing with my brother – "

"Gathering information from the client."

"Same thing."

"Damon." Bonnie turned the full power of her glare on him. "Leave. Me. Alone."

He blinked, his eyes betraying the sting that he felt at her words, before he frowned wordlessly at her and slunk off to the bar.

Bonnie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before walking towards the pool tables.

"A woman of your caliber ought to choose more suitable company." Kol had managed to sidle up to her without her knowledge, giving Bonnie a start. She had to be more aware of everything. "Whats your name, love?" He asked, and for the umpteenth time, Bonnie was thankful that he didn't recognize her from the suspicious moment they had shared at Klaus house the night before.

"None of your business." She snapped back.

Kol didn't even retreat. "Lets try that again. I'll start. I'm Kol."

"Why don't you get lost, Kol?" Bonnie suggested, moving away from him and towards the back door.

"And why would I do that?" He smirked, cornering her against a nearby door. "I like pretty little things with sharp tongues."

Bonnie scowled at him, her fingers curling around the doorknob behind her. She opened her mouth to say some form of retort before she put her plan in motion, but a deeper male voice beat her to it.

"Pretty sure she told you to get lost."

Damon. Of course.

Kol continued to grin at Bonnie. "Pretty sure I don't care." He turned to face his new opponent, but before either man could do anything, Bonnie pinched Kol's neck in the sleeper hold.

"Next time, take a hint." She quipped, before opening the door. Elena shot out and grabbed Kol's drooping form before retreating into the alleyway the door opened onto.

Bonnie took a moment to whirl back around and confront Damon.

"I thought you said Elena wasn't available." He said in confusion.

"She wasn't available to do the stuff that I had to do." Bonnie said in a rush, wanting to get to her point. "Why did you feel the need to interfere? No, wait, don't answer that. Just remember these few things, Damon. I have a job to do, and I do it well when the client's don't try and help me." She gazed into his blue eyes, wanting to drive her point home. "I'm not yours. You don't need to play the 'mine' card when you don't own me, or have any claim to me in the first place. Just stay the hell away from me." She finished heatedly.

Damon looked like a kicked puppy, and Bonnie had to keep herself strong against it. Her mentality was breaking slightly until a bartender stepped in, noting the possessive stance Damon was in and the defiant stance Bonnie had taken.

"Everything okay over here?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Damon replied without sparing a glance.

The guy stared pointedly at Bonnie. "I wasn't talking to you." He replied to Damon.

Damon took a breath, finally backing slightly away from Bonnie to look at the bartender before walking away into the crowded bar.

"You alright?" The bartender asked Bonnie.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you. I'm just going to get some air." She smiled, waiting for him to turn back towards the bar before she slipped through the door and joined Elena.

…

"I meant what I said before at the ball, and again every other time we talked." Klaus raised his brows. "I just had to play the game against you. I'd be happy to play it with you if you'd only let me."

Caroline eyed him dubiously. "You're a crook. We can't trust you."

"And you're an undercover detective who lied to me." He retaliated. "We're as bad as each other."

"I seriously doubt that." She said. "And I still don't believe you don't have anything to do with your brothers disappearance."

Klaus shrugged. "I don't. You just have to trust me on that." He grinned.

Caroline narrowed her eyes. "I've told you why I can't trust you."

"Fine," He allowed. "But my advice is the same as before, so trust me on this. You and your friends should steer clear of this case. There is more than meets the eye."

"Are you threatening me?" She bristled. "Or just assuming I'm incapable."

"I'm trying to protect you, love." He soothed with a slight chuckle. "If only you'd let me.'

"Who says I need protecting?" She challenged, but her breath caught slightly in her throat as he leaned in.

"I don't know. For one, you're alone at night with the big bad wolf." He murmured darkly, his eyes focused intently on hers.

Caroline fought against the urge to lean forward and kiss him, chanting in her head about how wrong it would be. "That's a bit of an overstatement about yourself." She breathed, excitement shooting through her veins as his gaze flickered involuntarily down to her lips before returning to her eyes.

"Oh, sweetheart." He said huskily, making Caroline lock her limbs against any action her body might make in response to the delicious British tones. "I never exaggerate. When I say I'm the big bad wolf, it means I am the big bad wolf. When I say that there are no other men like me, there are no other men like me." His hand, which had been resting along the back of the bench, came up to ghost his fingertips along her smooth cheek. "When I say I fancy you for your beauty, strength and light, then it is all true."

Caroline gazed up at him with heavy eyes, feeling her body fall slowly into the desirous spell he was weaving with his words and his gestures and his eyes, damn those eyes…

Klaus leant in an inch closer, his voice dropping out of its seductive tones into one of darker warning. "And so when I say leave the matter alone because it is too dangerous for you and your specially trained comrades, then you had best take what I say as a rule."

His words snapped Caroline from her hormone-fueled mood faster than a bucket of ice water to the face. "You seem to have skimmed over the entire basis that the agency was founded on." She snapped at him. "We don't follow rules. And we certainly don't listen to and follow ones made by men. Especially men like you."

Klaus frowned at her, but there was a set to his mouth that indicated his amusement, and a shade in his dark blue eyes that indicated his attraction.

But before more could transpire, a shout carried across the still night from the direction of the Grill.

He turned as if the call had been made for him and him alone, like a dog responding to a cry of distress from its pack. Klaus looked back to Caroline with a frown.

"What did you do?"

She shook her head, eyes wide. "Nothing."

"What did you do?" He asked again, his voice deepening to a growl. Rather than back down in fear, she rose to meet his sudden anger.

"I didn't do anything." She snapped back at him.

His eyes widened in understanding. _She_ didn't do anything…but where were her teammates?

"Kol." He breathed, before turning and heading towards the alley beside the Grill.

"Klaus!" Caroline said warningly as she raced after him.

"Caroline," Klaus snapped, turning around with danger flashing warningly in his dark eyes. "You're beautiful, but if you don't stop talking, you will regret it."

"We need to find Elijah." She continued in a rush, heedless to his words. "We think Kol could work with us, and seeing as you've just played around with us, we weren't going to even try and work with you."

Klaus gritted his teeth. "What do I need to do to get Kol out of your clutches?"

"Help us." She said slowly.

"I can't." He insisted with just as much emphasis.

"Then this is the only way around it." Caroline shrugged.

"That's assuming that you think I wont just take back my brother by force." Klaus growled.

She narrowed her eyes in response, thinking fast. "Okay. Fine. Lets make a deal. Name your price."

…

"Here, grab him." Elena nodded towards Kol, who was propped up against her. Bonnie applied the sleeper hold once more so Kol wouldn't shout again before hoisting his right arm over her shoulder, and together the two Angels moved the barely conscious Mikaelson towards the stairs that led up from the back alley of the bar.

"Did we have to sleeper hold him?" Elena huffed. "I mean, good work on the snippy-sexy front, but couldn't we have just talked to him?"

"I've had enough of chasing after two Mikaelsons, haven't you?" Bonnie replied, and halted as a figure appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Figured you could use some muscle." Damon's voice floated down.

Bonnie cursed. _"Son of a – "_

"What did you say about my mother?" Damon questioned with a far to happy grin on his face as he descended the stairs. "Don't worry, I'm sure she hated me as much as you do."

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked, a furrow marring her brow. "You were supposed to be looking out for him."

"Keep your cool, Momma Bear." Damon scoffed, lifting Kol's arm off Bonnie's shoulders with a slight frown. "Stefan's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"He's not in the right place to take care of himself." Elena replied, letting Bonnie take Kol's arm off her shoulders. Bonnie settled on Kol's other side across from Damon with a scowl towards the blue-eyed man. Damon smiled back, and they began walking up the stairs.

"I'm telling you, Stefan's fine." Damon assured Elena. "He's safe, if that's what you're worried about."

"His cravings are getting stronger." Elena warned. "Where did you leave him?"

"Back in the bar. By all means, go check." Damon encouraged.

The moment Elena left them, Bonnie let her anger loose.

"This is my case, and you are our client. How did you not get the message before?"

"I got it loud and clear, Judgy." Damon rolled his eyes. "Forgive me for helping out a couple damsels in distress."

"We are anything but that." Bonnie growled, tugging Kol's body slightly closer to herself so she was supporting more of his weight than Damon was. "Let go, Salvatore. I can take care of this."

"Oh, _Salvatore_?" Damon quirked an eyebrow. "The last names are coming out now. Fine then, _Bennett_, take the kid." He let Kol's arm drop from around his neck, and Bonnie braced her shoulders and bent her knees. She dragged him a couple paces to their car before losing her balance and stumbling into the side of the door. Kol's unconscious form collided with her body and slumped down to rest his chin on her chest, making him blink slightly awake.

"Charming view, darling." He muttered groggily, and Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Get up. Now." She ordered, but Kol didn't have a chance to respond to her demand in any sense before Damon had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, opened the door, and shoved him inside.

Bonnie looked at him with her hands on her hips.

Damon shrugged. "Your method was taking too long."

.

Elena's eyes scanned the bar. Four times. She swore Stefan wasn't anywhere to be found. She was about to head back outside when she finally noticed him by the bar, scotch tumbler in hand. She made her way over to him, a smile already lighting up her face. His eyes caught hers across the room and a bright smile flashed onto his face before it settled back into its usual somber expression.

"Hi," She greeted him casually.

"Hey," He replied softly.

"You're starting out pretty early with the strong stuff." She noted.

"Helps the cravings." Stefan said after a quiet pause.

Elena bit her lip and nodded. "Oh. Of course."

Stefan heaved a sigh. "Elena…I shouldn't tell you all these things. I – "

"Stefan." She replied just as seriously. "The alternative is lying to me. And I want to know the truth. I want to know what you're going through." She held his hand and waited for his eyes to meet hers. "I'd like to keep this going, whatever it is. And I'd like you to be honest with me. Is that okay?"

His hazel green eyes searched her own warm brown depths, like spring leaves latching onto the strong dependable branches of a tree. Stefan exhaled through his nose and smiled slightly. "Of course."

Elena beamed, squeezing his fingers lightly before letting go of his hand. "I'm going to go check on the girls, but I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." Stefan nodded, watching her leave.

.

"Where's Caroline?" Elena asked Bonnie when she returned to the car.

"On her way. She managed to talk Klaus into co-operating too." Bonnie said shortly. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to convince Mr Salvatore to do the same."

"I am co-operating." Damon replied stiffly. "I'm in your company and I am operating."

"And you are also a civilian." Elena reminded him sweetly. "So could you kindly make your way back to the company of other civilians?"

"No." Damon said, arms folded as he leaned against the car Kol was still unconscious in.

"He's unfit for society." Bonnie snapped with a glare at him.

"And she's very charming, isn't she?" Damon flashed a winning smile back at Bonnie.

"Play nice, you two." Elena warned. "Mr Salvatore, please wait with your brother while we finalize this."

Damon looked as if he were about to retort, but the mention of Stefan made him reconsider. With one final look in Bonnie's direction, he turned and made his way back to the building.

Caroline walked towards the car with trepidation, mainly because she was being followed by Klaus.

"Do you have to be so edgy?" She snapped.

"You lot have my brother. I'm starting to think it would be better to take him back by force." Klaus muttered.

"Well we have a deal." Caroline reminded him in grudging tones as they reached the car.

"What deal?" Bonnie questioned. She gave a cursory nod to Klaus, but made no other welcoming gesture, standing with her arms folded next to Elena.

"Caroline?" Klaus turned to her, his eyebrows raised in amusement.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I'll fill you both in later. Where's Kol?"

"Yes, where is my baby brother that you have so kindly kidnapped." Klaus turned back to Bonnie with a far more serious glint in his eyes.

"We didn't kidnap your brother." Bonnie deadpanned. "We helped an apparently inebriated man to what he assumed was his car. Unfortunately for him, he is neither inebriated nor in the correct car."

"I'm sure the authorities would love that one." Klaus said icily.

"The same way that they'd love to get their hands on you and your drug dealing?" Caroline retorted.

Klaus winked at her. "Lets not talk about who else would like to get their hands on me."

"You're disgusting." Caroline sniffed.

"And you're glorious."

Elena looked at the pair with wide eyes as they glowered at each other. "Well, lets just cut across the sexual tension here and get to the point. I'm going to wake your brother up, we're going to ask him where Elijah is, and get him to help us. Will you be joining us, Klaus?"

Klaus glanced away from Caroline, allowing her to win the staring match for once. "You might want to rethink waking Kol up."

"Why is that?" Caroline asked.

"Because I'm already here."

The three girls spun around to see Kol standing behind them, looking thoroughly pissed off.

"Hello darlings." He smirked. "I never thought any of you would do anything particularly hideous to me, but here we are."

"Oh little brother." Klaus sighed, walking slowly with a casual grace towards Kol. "Just two days here in the States, and already you've gone and made a mess."

Kol scowled petulantly. "Come on Nik, I only wanted to have a bit of fun."

"Ah, yes, which usually ends with you passed out in the back of someones car." Klaus had managed to reach Kol without interference, and he suddenly grasped his brother by the wrist, twisting him in one sharp move so Kol's cheek was pressed to the hood of the car with his hand trapped behind his back. "Now, you've had your fun. Just answer the questions and avoid any more trouble, or you'll find yourself in a spot of trouble."

Elena started forward to stop Klaus, but Caroline and Bonnie each put a hand on the brunette's arm. Caroline knew that Klaus wouldn't do anything too dangerous. It was his little brother. He probably knew the best approach more than they ever would. Bonnie just knew that whatever would happen to Kol, there was no doubt that he had it coming for him.

Kol seemed almost unperturbed by the violence. "Hey, no need to be nasty about it, Nikky."

Klaus tightened his jaw, pressing Kol's face more firmly to the metal. "On the contrary, I find nastiness to be essential whenever my siblings act out of the ordinary." He paused, then nodded in the girls direction.

Caroline took it as a cue. "Where is Elijah?" She asked in a commanding voice.

Kol guffawed. Klaus lifted him off the car for a second before slamming him back into the metal surface, effectively cutting off any laughter.

"Listen closely, Kol." Klaus growled. "Answer the question as truthfully as you can. You understand?"

"Fine." Kol grunted into the hood of the car. "No, I don't know where Elijah is. We were meant to meet a few days ago but he never showed. You have my word."

"A fat lot of good that does us." Bonnie scoffed.

Klaus frowned, but let go of Kol. "Regardless, his word means something to me. He doesn't know anything."

Bonnie glowered at him. "Seriously. Neither you nor your brother know where your only other sibling is?"

"Unfortunately for you, darling, you've got your information wrong." Kol sniggered, holding in his laughter as her eyes threatened to burn him where he stood.

"We do have one other sibling." Klaus clarified before Bonnie could do any actual damage to his younger brother. "Bekah."

"She'd not have a clue where he was though." Kol said.

"But she's the favorite." Klaus explained. "If Elijah was in trouble, or if he wanted to disappear, then who would he turn to?"

"Beks." Kol nodded.

"Who says that he wasn't kidnapped?" Elena frowned.

"You all have been the ones jumping to the conclusion that he was taken." Kol scoffed. "But he had no enemies."

"Well, he did have some." Klaus said darkly. The two brothers shared a look and refused to speak any more about it.

They made an arrangement to recruit the Mikaelsons sister to the case, and agreed to meet at the agency the next morning for a debrief.

Bonnie and Caroline expressed their need for coffee the second the men had walked off into the night. Elena promised to catch up with them in a moment, knowing that she had told Stefan she would return. However, when she ducked back into the bar, she knew Stefan and Damon were gone for good. All that remained was Stefan's empty glass left on the table in front of his vacant chair. Elena frowned, but gave up for the night. He wasn't a man to be chased. And she wasn't exactly in a chasing mood for now. He had to have his space to trust her.

She caught up with Bonnie and Caroline at their usual Starbucks.

"I so do not trust those Mikaelson brothers." Bonnie hissed.

"Agreed." Caroline mumbled over her much-needed caramel frappuccino. The pair both turned towards Elena, who was busy stirring two sugars into her cappuccino as she approached them.

"Has Stefan become a magician with a disappearing act?" Caroline asked.

"It would appear so." Elena sighed, shaking her head. "But we should talk about work first."

"So far, we have two lots of untrustworthy brothers, and a couple of shady businessmen." Bonnie summarized before taking a big sip of her chai latte.

"We're onto suspect number two – Kol," Caroline gritted. "But that seems like a dead end too, which means we currently have no leading suspect."

"And another serious problem," Elena finalized. "Elijah has been missing for a week as of today. The longer we take, the less likely we are of finding him alive and well."

"Well if these brothers don't help us find a lead on the case, then we'll have to go back to basics." Bonnie rationalized. "Agreed?"

"Absolutely." Caroline nodded, knocking back more coffee. She was going to need it by the truckload if the case continued on the way it currently was.

"Hey, Care?" Bonnie started.

"Mmm?"

"What deal did you make with Klaus?"

Caroline sighed. "I agreed to go on a date with him."

Elena and Bonnie raised their eyebrows at each other, and both opened their mouths to comment, but shut them immediately after Caroline sent them both a death glare, daring them to say anything. They didn't want to even try.

.

Elena sighed, walking into the bedroom at Stefan's apartment. He had said she was welcome whenever, and she had been invited to stay there that night, so she figured it was probably the best place to stay and figure out if she was indeed still welcome. She took off her jacket, wondering how long she would have to wait for him to appear again.

When she spun around again, she realized he was standing by the door. Clearly she didn't have to wait long.

"Oh my god, you scared me." She breathed out in a rush.

"Sorry." His smile spoke volumes for him, barely hooking onto the corners of his mouth. "I'm sorry that I ran off earlier."

"What happened?" She frowned. "Is everything okay?"

Stefan tried to smile again, before it faltered. "No."

Elena walked closer to him, and he turned away only to sit on the edge of the bed. She understood immediately that he needed space, but it didn't stop her worrying.

"Talk to me, Stefan. Tell me."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I tried so hard to keep it together tonight. And it was working. But having a drink didn't dull anything. It just brought the cravings forward in my head."

"And then?" Elena prompted.

"And then I remembered where Damon kept the emergency supply." Stefan glanced up at her so guilty that she worried he had already taken some, but he continued in a rush that her expression had probably encouraged. "It took everything inside me not to take any."

"But you didn't."

"No." He said, running a hand through his hair again. "But I wanted to." He rubbed at the skin on his forehead like it was sandpaper. "Elena, my head is pounding, I swear that my skin is on fire, and I have this hunger inside of me that I've never felt before in my entire life…" He trailed off and glanced up at her almost as if he was worried that she had already run away. "And all I keep thinking about is how I promised that I would never keep anything from you, and so I'm telling you this."

"Its okay," Elena said soothingly. "I need you to tell me these things."

He shook his head. "But I don't want you to see me like this. I don't want you to know this side of me even exists."

Elena sucked in a huge breath. "Stefan, you're going to get through this. I'm going to help you pull through. Its going to be okay." She reached out to touch him. "You're going to be okay."

Before her hand could even touch his skin, he pulled away and walked seven paces away from her.

"Sorry." He said stiffly, before swallowing. "I can't. I feel completely out of control. I'm afraid of what I could do to you."

Elena locked eyes with him and raised her eyebrows. "I'm not. You've seen me break ten cinderblocks using only my forehead, and you're worried about hurting me?" She walked purposefully over to him. "Even if we forgot about the fact that I know at least eight different forms of fighting styles, I'd still be safe with you. You'd never hurt me. You said that yourself, and I believe you." Her hands caressed his jaw, latching on lightly and pulling his face to hers. "I'm not afraid, Stefan." She kissed him gently, whispering her reassurances into his mouth. "I'm not, okay?"

Stefan caved, kissing her one more time before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close.

.

Caroline was brushing her teeth when her phone rang. When she saw the name that flashed up on the screen, she took a deep, calming breath before answering.

"What. What now?" She asked before continuing to brush her teeth.

"_Do you always answer your calls like this?" _Klaus's deeply amused voice replied.

"We've talked enough tonight."

"_You and I know its never enough_."

"Really?" She scoffed in between brushes. "And why's that?"

"_Because regardless of whatever has happened in the day and night, regardless of our prior conversations, regardless of everything that has come to pass between us, you still haven't hung up on me."_

He was right. Damn him. Caroline screwed her eyes shut at her own stupidity before spitting out toothpaste in the sink.

"Maybe I have nothing better to do."

"_Or maybe you just don't like going through your nighttime routine alone." _Klaus remarked. _"If you want, the next time we talk like this, I could be there in person instead."_

"How delusional are you?" Caroline exclaimed, rinsing her mouth and turning off the light in the bathroom.

"_No delusion, merely reading between the lines._"

"The lines being creepy and insane?" She knew she was lying to the extreme. She was starting to find humor in his little flirtations, which was bad. She knew the next step would be actually falling for them.

"_I was hoping more towards alluring and charming_."

"Funny how you think your charm will make me forget everything." Caroline slipped on bedsocks with stars printed on them and nestled herself in bed, the phone still pressed to her ear.

"_What exactly do you need help forgetting then?"_

She sighed. "Oh, I don't know, the drugs, the violence, the lying?"

"_So you're saying if you forgot all those things, you'd be charmed by me?"_

Damn. She'd walked right into that one. Caroline could tell that he knew it by the huff of a chuckle she heard on his end of the phone.

"I couldn't ever forget the horrible things you've done." She sniffed.

"_Come now, love. You haven't answered my question._"

"I'm not the one who is required to answer questions, that's what you need to do."

"_Caroline."_ His dark voice and the way he said her name gave her chills that she would never admit to. _"Answer my question."_

She paused, waited a beat. "Yes. I think I would be charmed then."

His silence almost rang with victory.

"But I guess we'll never know, now, will we? Since there's no way for you to make me forget."

"_And here we reach an impasse_." He agreed.

"Yes." She said unnecessarily. Caroline was suddenly aware of the fact that she was in bed on the phone to a dangerous, seductive man. "Well, I'll have you know that since we're technically working together now, my business contact hours are between 9 and 5."

"_What about for personal contact?"_

She allowed the shiver to run through her this time. "I don't do personal contact."

"_Pity. I'll see if I can change your mind."_ She firmly believed that he intended to change her mind, and it filled her with a rush of fear and excitement she hadn't felt outside of work for a long time. _"Goodnight, Caroline."_

"Goodnight," She managed to return softly before setting down the phone and clicking out the light.

* * *

Hi guys,

Thanks for being super patient with the update. Long story short I've taken way too much onto my plate this year and between University and my job(s) and other extra things like musicals, I've needed a bit more time to write up things like this. In fact, since the show I'm working on opens in a week, I'm going to have to say that I'll update in 2 weeks time. SO. I'll see you in a fortnight.

In the meantime, thank you for reading, please review if you'd like to tell me what's going right/wrong/hilariously/shockingly. :)

xx


	9. Chapter 9

Caroline set out a platter of muffins on the table and stood back, tilting her head to look at them from a different angle. Okay, so they might not do much for the décor, but she couldn't think of any other acceptable social behavior for a meeting called between two groups that severely disliked each other, particularly when the meeting pertained to a missing person.

Bonnie and Elena were currently with the Mikaelsons and the Salvatores respectively. Jenna was setting up the Skype line with Alaric – though by the sounds floating in from the other room it seemed far more like flirty banter than business chats.

Caroline sighed, adjusting the platter again, before nodding to herself. This was going to be a long meeting.

"Never figured you to be the domestic type, sweetheart."

Caroline spun round to see Klaus grinning wolfishly from the doorway.

"I bake. When I feel like it." Caroline replied shortly, resolving to leave the muffins alone.

"Seems like I barely know anything about you." He said, strolling into the room.

"And I'm sure it can stay that way." She matched his steps, keeping an equal distance between them at all times. She wasn't going near him after their conversation last night over the phone. "Where are Kol and Bonnie?"

"Arguing over coffee." Klaus had made his way to the desk, his eyes running over the few personal items littered across it. "It seems that coffee keeps this business running."

"At times, it probably does." Caroline reached the extent of her control when Klaus picked up the photo the Angels had taken on the beach in Miami after a particularly hard case. She placed her hand on top of the frame, and he allowed her to lower his hand and the picture back to its place on the desk.

"Do you mind?" She asked crossly.

"Not in the slightest." He replied with a grin, happy to have brought her closer. Caroline seemed to realize that in the same second, her breath catching as she allowed her gaze to drop to his lips. She blinked, trying to clear her mind.

"If you're always this irritating in business meetings, then its no wonder the few we know about have turned sour." She said harshly, wanting distance, ice and coldness, anything that didn't resemble the delicious heat that was radiating between them.

Klaus merely chuckled, turning his hand to catch her fingers as they still rested idly on the picture frame. "Then it seems like you barely know anything about me, either." His fingertips caressed over hers in a way that must have been illegal judging by the feelings it evoked in Caroline. "Though I'd be more than happy to share everything."

"Everything but the location of your brother." She half-laughed, before allowing the seriousness of the situation to wash over her and taking a step back. "I would assume that you would want to focus fully on retrieving Elijah."

Klaus looked as if he would like nothing more than to grab her and pull her back into an embrace far fiercer than the one they had just shared, but Elena chose that moment to walk in with the Salvatores. The five of them stood awkwardly for a second before Elena jumped in.

"Everyone is welcome to take a seat." She suggested as silence reigned.

"Thank you, Elena." Stefan replied helpfully, sitting down on the couch and yanking Damon to sit down next to him.

"Yes, thank you, Elena." Damon echoed, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Especially for inviting the suspect along. It will make it much easier to interrogate him."

"I'm not here as a suspect, Damon." Klaus smirked. "I'm here as a specialist. Though you would have known that sooner if you had done your homework."

Damon's scowl deepened. "I don't believe you for a second when you say you don't know where your brother is. You might have everyone fooled, but just know that I'm onto you. And once we find them – "

"Don't give yourself away, Damon." Klaus tutted, knowing he was riling him up. "Why did you want to find my brother again?"

"To finalize our business deal." Stefan said on behalf of his brother, who appeared to be too angry to speak.

"Ah yes, that's right. The Salvatore brothers always have each others backs." Klaus nodded, his gaze zeroing in on the younger brother. "A pity that you couldn't afford anyone else that loyalty."

"What's done is done, Klaus." Stefan said levelly, but a twitch in his left eyelid gave away his stress.

Elena and Caroline watched all the chaos evolve without their own involvement. Whoever said that men never fought like cats was seriously wrong.

Jenna chose that moment to carry in the laptop with Alaric's Skype screen call. The room descended into silence again, and Alaric cleared his throat as the laptop was placed on the desk facing everyone.

"Well this is sufficiently awkward."

"Alaric, this is Elijah's brother Niklaus." Jenna introduced. "His other brother Kol must be elsewhere in the building."

"Pleasure to meet you." Alaric greeted Klaus.

"Likewise." He said in return, his expression slightly guarded.

"We can go through the plan without Kol and Bonnie being present for the start." Jenna decided, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Right. Of course." Elena nodded, before launching into the latest update. "So far, we have very few leads on Elijah Mikaelson. However he has vanished, and whether he is with someone or not, it's clear that he does not want to be found, which leads us to believe that someone else may be after him as well."

"We ask you gentlemen now if you would know of anything that would cause him to run in this manner?" Caroline asked the four men.

The girls did not miss the way that they all glanced quickly at each other. Clearly there was something here that each of them didn't want to reveal in front of the others.

"No." Stefan answered first.

"Not a clue." Damon reiterated.

"He didn't speak of his personal life with us." Alaric clarified.

"He didn't do that with his family much either." Klaus said. Caroline eyed him carefully before letting her suspicions pass and continuing.

"Well then I hope he did talk openly with the next person we will be questioning." She sighed. "Bekah."

"We barely found any information on her in our database." Elena frowned, turning to Klaus. "We were hoping you could fill in some of the blanks?"

"I'm not at liberty to do so." He smirked. "But I can tell you where you'll be able to contact her."

"Where?" Elena asked.

"At her next job." Klaus answered.

"_Where?_" Caroline gritted, starting to get fed up with all of the evasion.

Klaus bit back a laugh.

.

"Victoria's Secret." Bonnie scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me."

"It's the only way to get to Bekah." Elena reasoned as the two of them walked towards the building that would be hosting the latest Victoria's Secret fashion catwalk show.

"And what, she was too busy to schedule a meeting with us?" Bonnie frowned.

"More like her brother was too cryptic with how to get in touch with her." Elena sighed. "I trust him as far as a baby could throw him."

"Even less than that." Bonnie agreed. "Where are the Salvatores in all of this?"

"We told them to take a break and get back to managing their company." Elena said fiercely. "They've been far too involved with us lately."

"And we've been far too involved with them." Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Speaking of which, how is Stefan?"

"Good." Elena beamed, but then her smile shrank a little. "Well, not all good. I'm still trying to help him break his addiction."

"You can't tackle every problem on your own, you know." Bonnie warned her.

"I know." Elena nodded, then shot the other girl a look. "Like you're one to talk, Miss Damon-does-everything-I-say."

"How is that a problem?" Bonnie asked. "I have him house trained."

"I didn't know you were playing house with him." Elena teased.

Bonnie waved it off. "Regardless, we've been too involved with them. Its good that we're able to do our job properly now."

"Mmm. It'll make up for Caroline's sudden involvement with our still suspicious suspect Klaus." Elena mused.

"Nice alliteration!"

"Thanks. But really," Elena sighed. "A date? She actually bargained a date with this guy?"

"Listen, I'd usually be worried, but this is Caroline." Bonnie soothed. "She's smart, stubborn and headstrong. She's going to be fine. If anything, this guy won't make an impact. And if he does, then he'll be the one to get knocked off his feet in the end. He won't know what hit him."

"Speaking of forces of nature," Elena reminded her. "You're up." She pushed Bonnie towards the dressing rooms.

"Why me?" Bonnie pouted.

"You drew the short straw, so go." Elena blew her a kiss before spinning around and walking off into the audience.

"How did I get this job again?" She half-muttered to herself as she moved through the dozens of international models waiting to go onstage. She passed by Caroline, who was managing part of the backstage crowd, and looking every bit the part of event planner. Clearly she already had her back-up career planned.

Caroline frowned as she got a moment to herself, wondering why there happened to be a slight gap in her electronic schedule.

"Now how did I know I'd find you at the helm of the ship?" A familiar British voice sounded, and she bit her lip, looking up to find Klaus leaning against the wall next to her.

She grimaced at him, going back to her tablet. At least that clarified who had mucked around with her schedule to gain more of her free time. "Go away, I'm busy."

He shrugged it off with the confidence only the very wealthy and handsome could have. "I was wondering what time I should pick you up tomorrow."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "How about a quarter to never?" She would never understand how she had got into this mess, _even if she secretly wanted it…oh, Bad Caroline, Bad, Bad Caroline!_

"I was promised a date in return for the help my younger brother and I would bring." Klaus reminded her, smirking as her frown deepened.

"Yes, a date, like to a movie where we don't have to talk, and I can put at least three seats between us." She grumbled.

"Surely you aren't ignorant of what we have between us." He said playfully.

"Aside from your giant ego, there is nothing between us." She shot back, engrossing herself in her notes. A sudden warmth all along her right hand side told her that he had strode closer to her, and in his usual way wasn't touching her…yet…

"So you are trying to tell me that you don't feel anything towards me." He murmured, and Caroline cursed the shiver that automatically ran through her. It was his accent, okay? She steeled her will and looked sideways at him, not even bothering to turn her head.

"Aside from frustration, no."

Klaus grinned. "Oh, frustration I can handle, love. I'm sure you have plenty of frustrations you would like to take out on me."

Her stomach swooped. _No, Caroline, bad Caroline, don't think about how his hands would feel on your skin, don't…_

"But aside from frustration, nothing else?" Klaus asked with far too much innocence.

"Nothing. Nothing at a –" Caroline's words died away as the air was sucked back into her lungs. Klaus traced his fingers tantalizingly up her forearm and along her neck, sweeping her hair back to expose her skin.

"So anything I do, anything at all," Klaus said quietly, dipping his head to brush his lips ever so lightly across the section of shoulder that he had uncovered. It was as if his lips were electrically charged, and they sent a current zipping through Caroline to the tips of her fingers and toes.

"Anything I do is in vain? You don't feel a single thing?" Klaus finished his question, a chuckle barely contained in his voice.

Caroline sucked in another lungful of air, trying to find clarity along with the oxygen. "I. Feel. Nothing." She gritted, hoping that at least she could make herself believe it.

The words sounded false to both of their ears, but Klaus still stepped back again.

"Pity. Well, I'm sure I could persuade you otherwise, but you have a job to do, right, sweetheart?" He winked at her before strolling away through the models who stopped to appreciate and flutter their eyelashes at him. Caroline was left slightly jealous and completely frazzled, filled with a weird combination of hate and lust for the man.

_Damn him. She was going to kiss him and kill him._

.

Elena mingled with the crowd waiting for the show to start. She accepted a glass of champagne from one of the waiters and smiled at her luck in finding the perfect job. That is, until someone jostled her and the glass slipped from her hand. Before she could do more than curse her luck, someone else caught the champagne flute with deft fingers.

Kol.

"Thanks." Elena breathed. "Didn't know you had the skill."

"I'm a quick learner. Speedy reflexes." Kol replied, handing the glass back to her and glancing around to check if their conversation would be overheard. "Everything set?"

"All going smoothly." Elena replied.

"I'm sure days like today seem easy for your team." Kol noted. "And cases like this are peaceful."

"What makes you think that?" She asked.

"In comparison to some other cases with bodies strewn around the place." He said casually.

The old Elena would have blanched. The new Elena took it in her stride. "I suppose."

"You've killed, haven't you?" Kol asked, a curious excitement lighting in his eyes. "Or are you one of those Mary Sue organizations."

Elena studied him carefully. "I've killed. But I wouldn't want to retell those stories."

"Shame. I always enjoy a good tale of adventure and action." He sighed.

"What is it that you do again, Mr Mikaelson?" She asked.

"I gamble. I drink. I live." Kol said, just as cryptic as his brother. "You lose track of some stories over the years."

Elena began to get the feeling that the Angels had fallen in with some seriously deadly company. She was starting to wonder if the Mikaelson's body count was higher than theirs.

"So." Kol brought her attention back to their conversation. "Will we start to put this plan into action soon? Or just jibber jabber?"

"I'm sure the show will start soon." Elena replied. "Caroline noticed that this 'Bekah' of yours doesn't get on till the second designer in the show, so once she's in her dressing room we'll find a way to talk to her."

.

"Damon – " Bonnie growled into the receiver, and heard his answering sigh as a rush of static across the phone line.

"I know, I know. Stay out of the case. Yadda yadda. I'm just checking in."

"And I'm just calling bullshit." She replied.

"You might be right." He said slowly.

"What do you want, Damon?" She asked pointedly.

"I want you…" Damon paused, gauging Bonnie's reaction.

"You want me…?" She fished, her stomach swooping but her mind telling her that he couldn't possibly be finishing the sentence there.

Her tone made him falter. He knew he shouldn't have said that over the phone, he couldn't tell what she was thinking from the mere tone in her voice. "…to be careful." He finished, knowing full well that he had never intended to put any words after those first three.

"Then thank you." Bonnie replied softly after a pause. She heard him sigh and then the line clicked as he hung up. She remained there still with the phone pressed against her ear, uncertain about what just happened.

Bonnie shook her head. No. Time to get back in the game.

She finished getting prepared for the catwalk.

.

Caroline was a whirlwind. She sent model after model down the runway, completely in her element. She gave a special wink to Bonnie as she strutted past wearing nothing more than a flimsy negligee and a pair of angel wings.

Her good mood stopped, however, when she caught sight of their favourite suspect and a model she remembered seeing on the cover of _Elle_ and _Vogue_ within the past two months. Klaus, for once, didn't appear to be doing any more than talking, albeit in a charming manner. The model, on the other hand, looked as though she were minutes from draping herself across him and eating him whole.

A mini green monster that reminded her of the Hulk roared in Caroline's chest, and she found herself flinging off her headset and handing it to whomever had been pestering her to take a break for the past hour, before marching over to the irritatingly handsome bad boy and the irritatingly beautiful supermodel.

"Actually, I will take that date." Caroline said shortly, pulling Klaus away from the Brazilian model.

"Really?" Klaus asked, with the barest hint of unconcealed glee in his voice. "Because I was happy chatting to Azra."

"I'm sure you were, but _goddamnit_, I am the only one who is going to get sucked in by your whole darkness thing today." She snapped.

"I thought you wanted to forget all about that."

"Please, I've thought about it every day. Get over it already."

Klaus suddenly stopped, making Caroline halt in an almost comic way as she was pulled back and avoided colliding with his chest. She looked up at him with a frown, tugging on their still linked hands.

"Are we having a lunchdate, or what?"

Klaus had an oddly determined set to his brow as he shifted their joined hands so their fingers wove through each others, interlocking. He raised his other hand to tilt and cup her cheek, before lowering his mouth to hers for a tender, cautious kiss.

It still completely shocked Caroline out of her system.

He took advantage of her gasp of surprise, catching her bottom lip between hers and tugging it gently into his mouth, and that was where she lost track of everything.

He tasted the same way she had imagined, the same way he smelled, like spice and misty mornings and iron…

Considering he had a barbed and witty mouth while talking, his lips were so soft while kissing…

How did he manage to make his kiss so demanding and yet touch her with such care…

He sure knew how to use his teeth…

Caroline wanted _more_…

And Klaus chose that moment, after she had realized that she wanted more, to pull back and look at her.

She stared back at him, wondering why he had stopped kissing her rather than wondering why he had started kissing her in the first place.

"So…" He sighed, as if nothing had happened. "Lunch?"

"I think I've got enough time to skip the lunch date." She said breathlessly, craning up to press another kiss to his lips, but a commotion behind her made her pause and retreat.

"What was that?" Her eyes searched through the gloom backstage. She could have sworn they were the only ones here in this corner of the backstage area. She half expected Klaus to make some sort of witty comeback and sweep her back into his arms, but she looked up to find him on the alert just as much as she was, scanning what he could see in the dark.

"Caroline…" Klaus said in a dark, hushed voice. "You remember when I said that this case was too dangerous?"

"Yes?"

"Go back and find your teammates."

Caroline frowned. "Oh no, you are not seriously sending me back like some child!"

"Caroline, just – "

"I did not go through years of training – "

"Go and find the – "

"sitting in some sexist office – "

"I don't want you to get – "

"be pushed around by an arrogant – "

Klaus suddenly pushed her back by her shoulders. Caroline stumbled, her arms flailing for a moment before she easily regained her balance. She sucked in air to rage at him for pushing her around, but it all rushed out again when she realized why he had pushed her away. An arrow was sticking out of the wall beside her. And Klaus was missing.

Caroline turned to see two figures sprinting away from her down the hall, and she'd hazard a guess that one of them was Klaus.

Shit.

She took off after them, covering an impressive amount of ground considering the four-inch heels she was wearing. The two runaways still managed to end up outside and on the street before she could catch up to them, and she lost them in the throng of New Yorkers.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

.

E, Rebekah's here. Room 103. I'm in my changing room, but you can go talk to her. – B

Elena placed her phone back in her bag, turning to Kol.

"Right. Everything's in place, now its my turn."

"Where is everyone?" Kol asked. "Out of interest." He added as she frowned slightly.

"Caroline's doing management backstage, Bonnie is in her dressing room, and I've got no clue where your brother is."

Kol shook his head with a derisive laugh. "No doubt doing something horrific."

Elena sighed. "I'm sure Klaus isn't doing anything wrong."

"Has your alliance with my brother softened you to his horrors?" He asked, eyeing her with interest.

Elena held his gaze. "We don't have an alliance with Klaus. We have a mutual interest in finding Elijah." She started walking away, before she doubled back. "And that interest is shared with you. Don't forget why we're here."

"I'll try my hardest not to get distracted by the glamorous models." Kol grinned.

Elena rolled her eyes in a classic Caroline move as she strode off to room 103 behind the stage.

…

Bonnie closed the door to her change room in a blur, still shocked. She had done a lot in this job. She had been a go-go dancer, masqueraded as a witch, she'd even sort of died and been resurrected on this particular job. She had taken down mobs and kicked ass. And yet she had never done something so daringly terrifying as a walk down a catwalk – especially while wearing something she would have only brought out for birthdays in the bedroom, complete with a pair of trailing lace wings.

Still smiling to herself at her own bravery, she started to deassemble her outfit.

Kol chose that moment to stroll into the room.

To her credit, Bonnie didn't let out so much as a squeak. Instead, she turned and folded her arms across her chest.

"Anyone ever tell you its rude to barge in without knocking?"

"I might have important news." Kol replied. "Surely that would exempt me any rudeness."

"Well do you have important news?" She asked.

"No." He grinned.

"Then get out."

"I don't want to miss the show." He ducked as she threw a powder puff at him. "I mean the showdown that's going to happen when you lot find Bekah. I'll stick with you till then."

Bonnie sighed. "I suppose that makes sense." She frowned. "But you have to turn around while I change."

"And if I don't?" He asked cheekily.

She looked him dead in the eye. "I'll give you the worst headache like you won't believe."

He believed her.

Kol turned around and faced the door, gesturing outwards with his hands to present the fact that he couldn't possibly see her from this angle.

"So have you even been helping Elena today?" Bonnie asked as she changed the bottom half of her outfit for her real clothes, deciding to do the riskiest piece first just in case. She couldn't really trust a Mikaelson. "Don't you have anything better to do than harass me and my friends?"

"I'm sure I do, but sadly you'll need my skills of persuasion later." Kol replied.

She scoffed. "Right, persuasive skills. Clearly I haven't seen a preview of those skills, cause I don't believe you in the slightest."

"You'll have to trust me, Bonnie."

_Had he read her mind or something? _"Of course I trust you."

"You're lying." He sighed, shifting his body slightly. He had figured out that if he was standing just so, he could see part of Bonnie's reflection in a nearby mirror. Regretfully she had already slipped her jeans back on, but she was starting to take off the angel's wings.

"Well you haven't given me reason to trust you yet." She replied with a slight edge to her voice.

"What about a leap of faith?" Kol suggested, smirking to himself as she slipped the negligee over her head.

"Not always good to trust with a leap of faith. Especially if you fall. But fine, I'll trust you."

"Thank you." He replied, watching her reflection as she unhooked the clasp on her bra. He froze as she caught his eye in the mirror.

"Forget trust." She said with a smile.

Kol turned around to face her with a frown. "But everything you just said…"

"Is true. But not when you can't keep your eyes to yourself." She tilted her head, keeping her eyes locked on his. "Besides, we don't always get what we want. Do we?"

Caroline walked in to find them in that awkward showdown.

"Oh my god, sorry, wrong dressing room, I'll just – " Caroline started backing out of the room, then paused. "Bonnie?"

"Caroline, thank god." Bonnie sighed.

Caroline glanced between the two, taking in how Kol leaned towards her and how Bonnie's bra was unclasped at the back, all with a raised eyebrow. "I don't want to know, do I?"

Kol smirked. Bonnie scrunched up her eyes. "It is so not like that."

"You can defend yourself to me later, Bon."

"Defend what?" Klaus's voice sounded as he joined them in the room.

"Defend her story about what really happened…" Caroline trailed off as she remembered what had happened between her and Klaus only moments before. She swallowed nervously as he grinned at her, and decided to change the subject in a different way.

"Where did you disappear to?"

"Had to do a bit of chasing." Klaus replied cryptically, shooting his brother a look. "But turns out I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Bonnie asked, clasping her bra again hurriedly and tugging on a shirt over it. She'd worry about that later.

"I'm surprised you'd admit you were wrong about anything, Nik." Kol quipped, subtly trying to save his brother from answering.

"I'd rather forget about it. Where is Bekah?" Klaus asked before either of the girls could get a word in.

"Room 103." Bonnie supplied. "Elena's there now."

"Then we should join her." Caroline said. Klaus held the door open for her, and she gritted her teeth and strode out the room as quickly as she could, just to ensure she wasn't close to him for more than a millisecond. She didn't know what to feel. She didn't know whether to accept what she felt either.

The four made their way to room 103 and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Elena said from the other side.

The Angels and the Mikaelson boys opened the door to a familiar brunette and an equally familiar blonde.

"Rebekah?" Bonnie blinked, astonished.

"Bonnie." Bekah – or rather, Rebekah – replied with a little more composure. "Long time since the island case."

"Island case?" Kol frowned.

"Rebekah used to work for Tatia as an Angel." Bonnie said. "She was on my team. Until – "

"Until I left." Rebekah interrupted with just as much sass as Bonnie remembered. "You know why I left."

"But we would love to hear it again, dear sister." Klaus said with more than a hint of sarcasm in the endearment.

Rebekah scowled at her brothers. "Take a guess. It's the same reason why I don't talk to either of you anymore. The same reason why the sight of your sorry faces leaves me angry."

"Ah yes, _love_." Klaus scoffed. "Rebekah's usual weakness. Is it still the same man?"

"Yes." Rebekah hissed.

"Our darling sister," Kol crooned. "Always so insistent that this time the love will last. And the few times we believed you, you were fickle."

"Shut it, Kol." Rebekah snapped.

"Clearly you've proven that you can't be trusted in any matters of family. You'll always be choosing your latest fling over us." Kol continued.

"I said _shut it_." She stepped closer, rage heating her cool blue eyes.

"And now Elijah is missing and you don't give a – "

Rebekah pulled an ornate silver pocket knife from her pocket, pressing it lightly against Kol's neck. He didn't even flinch.

"You'd really dagger me?" Kol challenged his sister coldly.

"We've got to help him." Bonnie murmured in a rush from where the Angels had gathered together at the side of the room while the family reunion raged.

Caroline soothed her quickly. "Give them time. She won't hurt him. You know she'd never really hurt him."

"If I do dagger you, its one less sibling for someone else to take out." Rebekah reasoned.

"And then you're no better than Niklaus." Kol countered. "Hurting siblings when you disagree with them. Look at what this family has become. Elijah has either been taken against his will or he won't even show his face, he is so disgusted by our bickering. This separation has ruined us."

"This family was ruined long before I fell in love." Rebekah tossed her plait back over her shoulder defiantly.

Klaus sighed, stepping forward in between his two siblings. "Enough of this foolishness. Put it down, Rebekah."

The British blonde lowered her weapon and sheathed it back in her belt. "You're pathetic. Both of you."

"Spare us the dramatics, dear sister." Klaus said. "Are you willing to put aside this petty feud over your latest lover and join us?"

"Does this mean you'll accept Galen?" Rebekah asked, hope lighting in her eyes.

"He tried to kill me." Kol growled.

"Oh, get over it, we all have." Rebekah sneered. "Will you accept him?"

"Never."

Rebekah glared at the pair of them. "Burn in hell." She hissed before spinning on her booted heel and storming out of the office.

A beat passed before Elena broke the ice.

"Well, that was awkward."

"You failed to mention your sister was _the_ Rebekah Mikaelson." Caroline said accusingly.

Klaus grinned at her. "Must have slipped my mind. I wonder how that would have happened."

Caroline flustered slightly and glanced away, ignoring the curious looks her teammates gave her.

"Either way, we lost a connection." Bonnie summarized. "Do we have enough power to find Elijah with two of his siblings?"

"Oh, darling," Kol rolled his eyes. "Its as if you don't know us at all."

* * *

Hi!

So. I'm so sorry this is late. I'm heading into the week before my exams though, so I'll have time to write while procrastinating and sleeping and doing a little bit of study...

I'll tentatively promise a new chapter up by next weekend :) I'll try not to abuse your trust like Kol did with Bonnie ;)

Read and review and all of the things!

xx


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